ROAD-DEATHS IN WAR-TIME
By H. M. VERNON
IN the second year of the war the number of deaths on the 1 roads amounted to 10,073, as compared with 8,358 in the first year and about 6,500 in pre-war years. Unless steps are taken to check the massacre, it looks as if it would become more and more formidable as the war runs its course. A number of causes have been adduced in explanation of the increase. Black-out conditions are generally considered to be the chief factor, for it was found that in the first war year all the excess of accidents, as compared with pre-war years, occurred in the autumn and winter months (September to January), and that in the spring and summer months there were rather fewer accidents than before. When we come to the second war-year, however, we find that there was a considerable excess of acci- dents in the spring and summer as well as in the winter,- so some fresh factor appears to have arisen. The existence of this factor is suggested by other data, which must be set forth in some detail. Practically the whole of the rise of accidents in the first war-year was experienced by adult pedestrians, whose fatalities were 83 per cent. more numerous than in the immediately preceding year, whilst accidents to child pedes- trians, pedal-cyclists, motor-cyclists and motor-drivers were nearly the same as in the two pre-war years. The great rise of accidents to adult pedestrians occurred in black-out hours, and in the first few months of the war they were seven times more numerous than those occurring in daylight. On the other hand, accidents to motor-cyclists and pedal-cyclists were almost equal in darkness and daylight.
The second war-year shows considerable and quite unexpected differences from the first. In the months from September to February (data for later months not being available) we find that black-out accidents were less numerous in the second war- year, the rise in the total accident-rate being due entirely to the great rise of daylight accidents. They were in fact half as great again as in the first war-year, and affected all classes of road-users almost equally. How are we to account for this excess of daylight accidents? The most obvious change in road conditions between the first and the second war-years was the great increase in the number of Service-vehicles on the roads, coupled with the reckless pace at which they were sometimes driven. This must undoubtedly be responsible for some of the increase of daylight accidents, but the War Office maintain that this factor was not important. They state that, of the 2;264 road fatalities experienced in the first three months of 1941, army vehicles were involved in only 122 of them, or about a twentieth of the whole number. However, these figures are much more favourable to the Services than some of the data collected by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (formerly the National "Safety First" Association). The Society obtained numerous—though not complete—reports of Inquests, and the figures relating to the 390 motor-cyclists and Pillion-passengers killed by collisions during the months from September to December, 1940, show that in 54 of the cases, Or about a seventh of the whole number, the vehicles involved were Service vehicles.
In that fatalities to pedestrians now form over half the total, it is necessary for us to pay particular attention to possible remedial measures for reducing then number. One simple measure, often mentioned but by no means always followed, is for the pedestrian to wear or carry something light-coloured at or below waist-level during black-out hours An unfolded news- paper is very convenient. Another simple precaution is for the pedestrian to give himself time to become fairly well adapted to the darkness when he first passes from a brightly- lit building into the dark streets, and to wait quite two minutes before he attempts to make such a risky movement as crossing the street. The need for this precaution is illustrated by some of the data collected by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. The Society found that, of the 1,124 fatalities to adult pedestrians recorded by them in September to December, 1940, nearly too were experienced very shortly after the pedes- trian had come out of a public-house ; but it must be remembered that the high fatality-rate may have been due partly to the effects of imbibing alcoholic liquor.
Though the accidents to child-pedestrians showed no rise during the first year of the war, they went up no less than 68 per cent. in the second year (October to February). All but a tenth of the accidents were incurred during daylight hours, so we must seek for other remedial measures than those suited for adults. The systematic education of the children in "safety first" principles at the elementary schools in pre-war years undoubtedly did much to reduce their accidents, and the rise now experienced must be due partly to the general upset caused by the evacuation of many children and their teachers from large towns, and the diminution of educational control over those remaining behind. Parental control is also, no doubt, diminished, owing to the parents passing into the Services or undertaking munition-work. There is no good reason why the school instruction should not be continued on pre-war lines, and there are other remedies which could be adopted to some extent.
The relative degrees of culpability ascribed to pedestrians and to motor-drivers in the causation of accidents is a matter of controversy. The Ministry of Transport attributes a third of all road accidents to pedestrians, and less than a fourth to motor-drivers. In Holland and France, on the other hand, four-fifths of all the accidents are attrittuted to drivers. The contradiction depends chiefly on the point of view of the two classes of road-user. Drivers are apt to maintain that any person found on the road is there at his own risk, and that it is his duty to see that he does not get in the way. ' The pedestrian, for his part, maintains that drivers ought not to proceed at such a speed that they are unable to pull up their vehicles when in danger of running down a pedestrian In his view excessive speed, having regard to the conditions, is the fundamental cause of most accidents. The importance of speed was stressed by many of the witnesses who gave evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Prevention of Road-Accidents, and it is evident that Government officials take a similar view, for in 1935 they imposed a 30-mile per hour limit in built-up areas, and there was immediately a pronounced fall of accidents, the fatalities being 19 per cent. less in the five months following the intro- duction of the regulation than in the corresponding months of the preceding year.
Again, in February, 1940, the limit was reduced to 20 m.p.h. during black-out, and the Pedestrians' Association has pressed for a limit of 15 m.p.h. in built-up areas during darkness, and 25 m.p.h. elsewhere. The desire for a greater reduction of speed than that now in force is not confined to pedestrians, as was shown by the votes of the delegates of the National Safety Congress in 1940. They showed a large majority in favour of a general speed-limit being imposed in unrestricted areas, and a small majority in favour of a lower limit than 20 m.p.h. in built-up areas during hours of darkness.
A striking feature in the melancholy tale of road accidents is the apathy with which they are normally accepted by the public The Select Committee above mentioned concluded that "The holocaust on the roads today is nothing short of appalling, but . . . it seems to be contemplated by the public in general with complacency."
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