MOTOR AND OTHER ACCIDENTS

Hokitika Guardian, 22 October 1929, Page 6

MOTOR AND OTHER ACCIDENTS

THE DOMINION’S RECORD. WELLINGTON, October 20. " The number of deaths recorded from: all accidental causes in 1928 was 744, corresponding to a rate of 5,35 per 10,000 : 'inhabitants, says the annual -report dealing with the Dominipn s viital Statistics;! "This compares f|fith; 656 arid 4.77' for thevprevious' year. Most unsatisfactory is the fact that' deaths from motor vehicle accidents recorded an appreciable increase. The number of deaths attributable to such accidents during 1924, 1925, 1926; 1927, and 1928 are 94, 108,' 149, 138. and 176 respectively. These figures are exclusive, of such accidents where .persoiisi-iiave 1 been killed -in collisions between motor vehicles and 'trains or trams. For 1928 there .were 12 deaths from such accidents, bring ing the total number of cases in which death occurred where a m,ofjor vehicle was an agent up to 188. The corresponding figure for 1927 was 152. The. death rate from motor 'vehicle accidents is .not appreciably higher in the urban* areas than in the _ country districts. The rate per 10,000. of population for the whole of the Dominion in 1928 was 1.27, for the urban areas 1.35, and for the country or remaining districts, 1.17, It is, interesting to dbserve the difference in chp- rates for the four main centres. Wellington records the highest with a rate of 1.54, followed by Auckland with 1,20 Christchurch with 1.06, and Dunedin with 0.48. It will be notidcdb ; Ah.vt. with the exception of Wellington,, all have a rate lower than the general rate for the entire Dominion, y Accidents arising from the use of horsedrawn vehicles claimed 17 deaths. Comparatively few fatal tramway ac.cidents occur in New Zealand) this class of vehicle claiming only 10 deaths in 1928. No fewer than .144 persons were aceidentaly drowned (luring the year (129 males and 15 females). Falls resulted fatally in 9b cases, and burns and scalds in 33 cases. Twenty-three deaths were attributable to traumatism by firearms. 16 to traumatism in mines and quarries, while IS! personis perished through the outbreak of fires. In 15 cases the cause of death was returned as fracture of skull or other bones, without the cause of such fracture being indicated. In view of the widespread international interest in statistics, of accidntal deaths resulting from the various classes of vehicles, detailed particulars of these fatal accidents are given. To avoid confusion in c-Jasf ideation circumstances where two different classes of vehicle were mvolv. ed in the death the , accident has ■been ascribed to the heavier or less mobile vehicle. Thus, in a case of death resulting from a collision . between a railway train and a motorpar, the cause of death would he assigned as “traumatism by railways. ’ On this basis Irailway accidents m 4928 wer°i responsible for -14 deaths. Ten of these were caused through level-crossing accidents . when motor vehicles and trains collided ; six were shunting fatalities, and twenty-three were “other and undefined” railway accidents. Motor vehicle accidents (the overturning and collision of cars and such like mishaps), accounted for 176 deaths during the real Twenty-four people were killed by cars overturning, seventeen by cars running over banks, but only one pillion rider met with a sudden end. The Dominion’s trams caused only ten deaths during the year, four of these fatalities being due to tails from trams*