ROAD ACCIDENTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 July 1939, Page 3

ROAD ACCIDENTS

ALLOCATION OF BLAME. POSITION OF PEDESTRIANS AND CYCLISTS. “Are pedestrians or cyclists struck by motor vehicles more frequently to blame than motorists?” This question is answered by an investigation made by the Transport Department into more than 5,000 cases of accident injury during the 12 months ended March 31. the Minister of Transport, the Hon R. Semple, said in an interview today. “In nearly a thousand accidents involving bicycles, the cyclist was adjudged by the reporting officers to be responsible in 53 per cent of cases, the motorist in 46 per cent, the road in 1 per cent, and the weather in 3 instances only. Frequent causes of cycle accidents were failure by the cyclist to keep to the correct side of the road, failure to give way, pad signalling, careless swerving, and recklessly emerging from a side road. “Pedestrians ' were responsible for nearly three-quarters of the ’879 accidents in which they were involved,’ said the Minister. “The- most fre.quent pedestrian faults were crossing the roadway heedless of traffic and stepping on to the road without exercising due caution. Of those pedestrians struck while walking along the road, all who were fatally injured were walking with their backs to traffic —a dangerous habit either day or night.”