The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Time. SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1930. THE OF THE MOTOR.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 May 1930, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Time. SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1930. THE OF THE MOTOR.

figures relative to the deaths resulting from motor accidents in the Dominion last year should be considered a.matter of general concern to the community. It is deplorable to think, says the Otago Times, that such accidents were the cause of nearly 200 deaths in New Zealand .in 'twelve months. The toll of the motor is not, or course, to bo reckoned in fatalities only, since for every person killed a score or more aro injured, and many very seriously. Manifestly this proportion of motor accidents is very heavy in a country with a population as small as that of Now Zealand. Jt is no consolation to know that the position is as had or worse in some other countries. In Great Britain in 1928 roads accidents entailed the death of 10,353 persons and the injury of *447,300 others. According to an American computation the capital value of a human life is £IO,OOO. There is no need lo make a calculation to realise that on such a bpsis the value represented in the lives lost to the nation through road accidents runs into huge figures every year and that over a decade the amount is colossal. This is an age conspicuous for the effort that is being made to save and prolong life by combating the ills to which the flesh is heir. The pity of it is that such effort should be to an extent nullified by the emergence of a new cause of mortality and disability which is establishing a record that place sit on a footing with many a disease which is regarded as a national

menace. In the Old Country the hos-

pital authorities have been crying out ior long enough about the strain imposed upon their resources in every ct rection by the present day demand for accommodation and treatment of road-accident cases. The same problem confronts the hospital authorities in this country The medical superintendent to tne North Canterbury Hospital Board has been pointing out in ms annual report the difficulty created by the amount or accommodation required for patients injured in motor accidents, and it was his comment that “most of the injuries wore of a serious nature, involving mutilation of limbs, and in consequence patients are in residence tor many months.” The economic loss due to motor accidents represents a problem of national importance, but what shall oe saiu of the problem from a merely humanitarian point or view ? For who, after all, can assess the value of a human life? lin a recent discussion in the House of Commons on the Road Traffic measure introduced by the Government and containing provision for tne abolition of the speed limit for private motor car&r—principally on the ground, it would appear, 4 that 'the speed limit was not being observed—a member told of a village which had erected a memorial to six men who lost their lives in the war and had had six of its residents killed this year in motor accidents. The same member told how in Bermondsey, six hundred trees were knocked down per annum by motor cars. The most noteworthy contribution made to the decate by the Minister of Transport was perhaps the statement that “What we want is a new road psychology,” Another of his observations was that- “a ipeed of five miles per hour, with some fool round the corner on the wrong side of the road, might be a dangerous speed.” The difficulty of regulating motor traffic so* that the danger of accident may be reduted to a minimum is admitted. But, when all is said, it remains obvious that motor traffic has been permitted to become productive of results that no community should Go content to tolerate, and cue position created is such that something should be done to retrieve it. Motor transport may be a wonderful thing, perhaps now an indispensable tiling, but it is indeed unfortunate that its benefits should have to be purchased at the price which is paid for them. If there must be a sacrifice it should not be a sacrifice of human life—a cheapening of the value placed upon life. The painful accompanying effects of the revolution in road traffic have come gradually. Had the toll of death and injury comparable to the results of a minor war, or a serious epidemic, been levied suddenly upon any community, and the resultant outcry may be imagined. But an outstanding feature of the position as it has evolved is the public apathy that is revealed. It might almost appear that a fatalistic attitude had developed—an acceptance of what is supposed to be inevitable. But the Inevitability certainly cannot be admitted. A healthy public opinion, insistent in its refusal to tolerate a continuance of this sacrifice of life and limb to the exigencies of motor traffic and the demand for speed is clearly essential if a better state of affairs is to .supervene. The motor is a good servant, but it is being permitted to be a bad master.