One Bright Spot

Accident figures for road and rail, in New Zealand, in Britain, and in America, are more than a little surprising. Per unit of population the United States has double the road fatalities of Britain, but only a fraction of Britain's rail fatalities, while New Zealand, in both kinds of fatality, is much lower than either of them.

The New Zealand Railways' claim to a record of six consecutive years without one fatality to a train passenger is outstanding, possibly unique; and one big disaster, if heavy on the fatalities side, could spoil an average for years. Still, the fact is that the railways in New Zealand have avoided it.

Figures taken out for five years by the Department of Railways afford striking comparison of New Zealand fatalities (gross and per unit of population) with those of the other two countries by road and by rail.

In Great Britain, for the five years 1926–1930, there were 2066 railway fatalities and 30,354 road fatalities. In America during 1931 fatalities by rail totalled 50 and by road 33,000. In New-Zealand during the six years 1926–1931 there were no railway passenger fatalities, but 1116 were killed in motor vehicle accidents.

In the United States they roll the old chariot along the roads to the tune of 33,000 deaths in one year, and the wheels of New Zealand trains have revolved without one passenger-death in six years. And in that time the New Zealand Railways carried 150 million passengers.—. Evening Post, Wellington, April 16th.