ROAD ACCIDENTS.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 429, 10 May 1937, Page 3

ROAD ACCIDENTS.

ENGLISH HALF-YEAR. Analysis of the Causes. London, April 17. Whether you drive a car, ride a pedal cycle, or merely walk in England you are likely to be responsible for the same percentage of accidents involving personal injury. The Minister of Transport, however, has succeeded in ascertaining that car drivers are rather»more to blame, but not a very great deal. An analysis based on reports of 100,000 road accidents where personal injury resulted during the AprilSeptember period last year shows that drivers were held to be responsible in 33 per cent, of the cases, pedestrians in 28.1 per cent., and pedal cyclists in 26.2 per cent. In the 100,000 accidents 2560 persons were killed, 26,698 seriously injured, and 83,553 slightly injured. Among the conclusions reached are: Of the total accidents, 77£ per cent, occurred in builtup areas and 23i per cent, in areas not built up. In areas not built up 38 per cent, of the accidents resulted in death or serious injury, compared with 23.3 per cent, in built-up areas. While 42 per cent, of the accidents occurred at junctions, 51 per. cent, took place on straight roads or open road bends with good sight lines. One-third of the persons injured were pedal cyclists, 29 per cent, were pedestrians, and 18 per cent, were motor-cyclists or their passengers. More than one-third of motor -cyclists were either killed or teriously injured. In nearly 8000 cases, or over 28 per cent, of all the accidents for which the accident was ascribed to a child pedestrians were heM *espon settle, under seven years of age. Where the causes of accidents.' were ascribed to motor-vehicle drivers, excessive speed accounted for 3073 cases and 204 deaths. O‘her causer were: Misjudging

clearance, distance, or speed or another vehicle; 3435 (32 deaths); overtaking improperly, 2941 (65 deaths); skidding, 2915 (49 deaths); inattentive or ’attention diverted; 268-7 (68 deaths). In the case of pedal cyclists, ‘"inattentive or attention diverted” was the cause of ,4098 accidents.' (31 deaths), and turning right without due care was responsible for 8904 (96 deaths). There were 4239 cases of collision with the rear of pedal cycle and 4064 in which two vehicles collided ‘‘head-on ” Of 31,575 accident's in which a pedestrian and a vehicle were involved, 1316 occurred on foot. Pa hs, grass verges, etc. The collisions with obstructions included 4625 cases of collision between a moving and a stationary vehicle, and 4784 cases of vehicles colliding with objects at the side of, but not extending over, the carriage-way The totsu number of vehicles involved in the accidents was 151,341. Pedestrians were mainly the cause in z 10.0G9 cases, 346 of which proved fa'ial. Bolting horsey caused 586 with 17 deaths, and dogs not under control 993, including six deaths.