CRASH!

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 6, 29 March 1927, Page 10

CRASH!

| THE CAUSE OF NEARLY j EVERY ACCIDENT IS SPEED | IN THE WRONG PLACE, HUMAN CARELESSNESS, | SELFISHNESS OR SHEER | INABILITY j L AUCKLAND PAYS THE BILL Accidents will continue, and nothing will stop them —but a few improvements will minimise them. The usual speed limit—fortunately Auckland has moved with the times and abolished it—is so palpably an absurdity that only the machinery of the law behind it makes it work at all. If a speed limit presupposes a safe speed then it is only actually safe when the accompanying set of conditions is specified. Any variation either way makes it either unsafe or ridiculous. It is the unknown condition which really governs every case. Human psychology is at the root of more accidents than any other cause. It is only by the training of the human element that motoring will be made safer. As yet motoring is only in its second generation. As time goes by it will be seen that, as in the olden days a good seat in the saddle was the natural prerogative of those whose fathers were horsemen, so the coming generations will bring forth keener powers of observation and anticipation. and more innate road sense. But in the meantime there are other factors to consider. The roads are becoming more and more permanent ways, or railless railways, and until we treat the traffic on them with the same amount of respect that we do trains we shall not be doing all we can to lessen accidents. The roads are too often a common play-ground where stock, dogs, children, pedestrians and cyclists are equally certain of their rights with the motor user. The thing Is to make the roads more suitable to the needs of their important work, and to abandon old-fashioned ideas about them. All this is in introduction to the main purpose of this article, which is to comment on the huge number of accidents that occurred in Auckland last year, more especially the number of fatal accidents which totalled nearly 50 per cent, of all the Dominion’s fatal road accidents. Probably no one can provide a better estimate of the cause of accidents in Auckland than Mr. R. J. Laird, who does a great deal of adjusting, on accident claims, for the insurance companies. Mr. Laird separates the causes of accidents as follows: 75 per cent, caused by lack of anticipation by the drivers. 25 per cent, caused by lack of road courtesy. 50 per cent, of accidents where pedestrians are injured, caused by pedestrians’ lack of ordinary anticipatory sense. So far as the motorists are concerned this boils down to nearly every accident being caused by bad driving. A percentage of accidents may be unavoidable—but it is an extremely small percentage. The good driver is not necessarily the man who can steer a car backwards or forwards, making fancy figures through a row of benzine tins, or the mechanic, or the speed merchant, or the man who has been driving for several years. A primary requirement is mentality. The ability to control speed and control the direction of the car must have behind it the power to anticipate, to restrain, and to act quickly. The good driver has the brain capable of producing these necessities —and the man who cannot produce them cannot be a good driver. Thirty per cent, of a good driver’s mental activity is directed to the doings of other traffic, pedestrians, cyclists and signs. That is where he wins over his less fortunate brethren most of whose mental power is expended in these directions and who are left without reserve. Then of course we have the driver who con-

siders himself good and is considered by most others as the pig of the road. His mental powers have been contaminated, and are wrongly fdcussed. He is the discourteous bounder, the beat-you-to-it variety who causes 25 per cent, of our loss and deserves what he gets—may it be often! The 75 per cent, who fail in power of anticipation will be reduced as time goes by and a newer, more car-wise generation comes along. The drivers of poor mentality will, I am afraid, prove a malignant growth. Mr. Laird upholds the new drivers as being generally of a careful class who wait a year or two before they eventually become good drivers or bad. He attributes the increasing number of accidents to the following causes combined with those mentioned above:

1. More cars. 2. Greater population. 3. Bigger cars. 4. Wide streets well paved. We- therefore arrive at the conclusion that, the facilities in Auckland being excellent for motoring, there are too many bad drivers, and too many careless pedestrians. One thing the pedestrian does not appreciate is that inside 37£ft. the car

driver, driving at 20 miles an hour, loses about 75 per cent, of his ability to avoid an accident. It takes him that distance to stop the car. At 15 m.p.h. it takes 21ft., at 25 m.p.h. 58ft., at 30 m.p.h. S4ft., at 35 m.p.h. 114 ft., and at 40 m.p.h. 150 ft. The pedestrian can move several feet out of the line in a second. Make use of that few feet! The motorist may be a bad driver, and even a feeling of indignity for a minute or two is far better than a feeling of broken limbs and crushed flesh. Incidentally the off-side rule or the “give way to the driver on your right” rule now in force all over Auckland, has done a great deal to minimise trouble at road crossings, and efficient control at busy corners by the city traffic department is keeping the centre of the city singularly free from trouble. Laird’s Automobile Directory proviides a few excellent hints, from which I present the following: For Motorists: Don't think because you are on the main read you own it; don’t think there is no obligation for you to give way to traffic from a side road or crossing your path; don’t wait for the other fellow, show him what you intend to do. If in doubt, stop! For Pedestrians: Don’t day dream on the road, or display implicit faith in the ability and judgment of every unknown motorist. We don’t. The Lord helps those who help themselves. Don’t trust a motor driver to avoid running you down. This also applies to lady drivers, and *bi- -d lorry drivers. The form- ' vry and the latter won’t care, tne.v nave nothing to lose anyhow. Don’t hesitate or change your mind. If in doubt, stop!