SLOWER SPEEDS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 March 1940, Page 6

SLOWER SPEEDS

. REDUCING THE TRAFFIC TOLL. The lesson that Providence. Rhode , Island, has given the United States is simply that road accidents are avoidable —if one drives slowly, says the "Christian Science Monitor." Although impressive records were made last year by both Kansas City. Missouri and Atlanta, Georgia, in reducing their fatalities by 60 and 50 per cent, respectively. the New England city of Providence. in spite of its narrow, winding streets and frequently adverse weather, lias again topped them all, holding fatalities to 14, or 5.5 per 100.000 population. The Providence campaign has many fronts. One is educational, police working with the schools, so that not a child of school age has been killed hi 13 months. Another is the development by the press and public officials of a lively civic pride. This has been stimulated by such things as the granting of the National Safety Council Grand Award. But it is the firm conviction of the police that success in Providence lies in the strict, impartial enforcement of a 25-mile-an-hour speed limit. This is a conclusion some may find difficult to accept; but actual police records over a number of years, detailing the factor of speed in specific accidents, was so conclusive that when the superintendent of police asked permission to enforce the 25-mile limit no great objections were heard. By-pro-ducts of this slowing down are interesting. After driving a few blocks in Providence traffic one begins lo feel a certain measured rhythm in the movement of cars. Tension is relaxed and replaced with calm assurance. There is time for courtesy. These are doubtless contributing causes to the fact that safety-conscious people throughout the United States are considering the example of Providence.