MOTOR ACCIDENTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 18 August 1909, Page 59

MOTOR ACCIDENTS.

Even as was once the case with respecft to trains and steamers, so wkhtn the past few years the objurgations oi demos have been directed with considerable vehemenc* against the motor car. The useful and l adaptable vehicle has been represented as & veritable juggernaut, which went about seeking whom it might maim and hurt ; and ita owner and drivei were indiscriminately dubbed "road hogs," who took r wicked delight in the injuries inflicted by their chariots. Said owners and drivers, it was alleged, sought invariably to escape by Sight the consequences of their wanton deeds. Some local authorities went so far as to closa their roads peremptorily against motor traffic. Prejudice seams, however, to havo had its day, am the ca'. it rising, rapidly in -popular' estimation. Its going and coming is viewed with an ample degree oP tolerance, and the most narrow-minded local authorities find it to their 'interest; to allow it the unrestricted usa of theii roadr It ie pleasing to be able to show the flimsy basss or- *hioh rested the charges of habitual recklessness in drivinpr- The English Automobile Association has been engaged incompiling statistics bearing or accidents for which motor cars and motor cycles have been responsible within the past 16 months. The number of misadventures reported im the press was 505, many of these not pcBulting in personal injuries to anyone. By way of comparison it may be stated that on the railways in 1905 the -number of people killed was 1099, and the number injured 1 6459.