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The Toll of The Motor

Estimates based on reports to the Census Bureau of the United States put the number of automobile fatalities in 1926 at 23,264 and in 1927 at 24,775. There are no figures for those injured less than fatally, but as they are commonly estimated as twenty-five to every death, 1,200,000 may have been injured in automobile accidents in the last two years. The worst of the frightful automobile list is that 30 per cent. of the fatalities were boys or girls under fifteen years of age. Nor is there any sign of a reduced death roll. The fatalities have doubled in eight years, and will probably reach 26,000 for 1928. It is frequently pointed out as a hopeful sign that the number of casualties is decreasing by comparison with the number of automobiles in use, but a recent study made in the University of Chicago suggests that even this is true only in regard to fatal accidents. The study showed that in 1921 for every 10,000 registered there were 310 fatalities and non-fatal injuries combined, while in 1926 this figure had risen to 374, an increase of 20 per cent.”

Commenting upon the above the New York “Nation” observes:—“There is no present sign that the public is willing to accept drastic autocratic reduction of speed as a solution of this grave problem. On the contrary, the speed at which automobiles bowl through the city streets has almost doubled in twenty years. Not only does the car owner resent the suggestion of reduced speed, but the man without one is less interested in preserving his rights as a pedestrian than he is in contriving to get an automobile with which to ride through the streets himself. Stiffening the requirements for drivers' licenses is only a palliative, because most accidents are not due to lack of skill. The most skilful drivers are often the most reckless. The one direction in which considerable progress has been made in recent years is in suspending or revoking licenses for carelessness or drunkenness, especially for the latter.