ROAD ACCIDENTS.

Otaki Mail, 8 January 1923, Page 3

ROAD ACCIDENTS.

._e SAFETY-FIRST CAMPAIGNS.

It L characteristic of the American people to achieve their purposes by unusual methods. Recently American cities have been conducting campaigns to reduce the toll of the accidental deaths. In New York, the programme included the inevitable parade, features of which were a division of 1054 children representing those who had been accidentally killed during the year and 50 "white star" mothers marching behind who had lost their children bystreet accidents. Later a memorial to the "martyred" children was dedicated in Central Park. What may be achieved by care and forethought was discussed by Dr. Franklin D. Lawson. who is president of a society for the

prevention of accidents. In his experience, he said, he found that about 90 per cent, of all accidents were due to disregard of certain simple principles. Preventable accidents "cause p •more misery ana destruction to-day than anything else in the world. To prov 6 such an assertion it is only necessary to make some comparisons v.ith the loss of life and maiming of individuals in the "World War. In their 10 months of lighting, 53,300 men in the United States forces were killed and 206.000 injured; here in this country, during the same period, 126,000 persons were killed and more than 2,000,000 were injured by accidents. In the last five years 52,185 persons - have been, killed and a much larger number injured in automobile aceidgats alone. j Think, then, of the unnecessary an- ! guish, lives lost, property destroyed, as | a result of accidents that might have been prevented, It is for this reason 1 that I say an ounce of prevention is I worth a ton of cure. Xone of us is iuv I rcune from accidents, and without caution we do not know when or tow we may become victims of them. "