ROAD AND RAIL [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sm,—In
the Report of railway managers and representatives of road services to the Ministry of Transport where do the interests or rights of the majority of the nation come in—the millions of people who are neither railway people nor motor vehicle-owners ? How much of the Report is devoted to the rights of walkers, as walkers, or the right of workers to sleep in peace, free from the hideous dins of automobiles ? Not much!
Public and Parliament ought to take the following points into consideration : (1) Eight thousand people killed on the roads outright in a year ; and 200,000 injured, many of whom die in consequence of their injuries but are not recorded as fatalities. Not far short of 50,000 die in a year as a result of excessive speed and weight of road transport vehicles—traffic which, mostly, ought to be on the safe railways. (2) Our huge imports of foreign petrol for cars and vans whilst the British coal-using railways are badly employed and many miners and railwaymen are out of work. (3) Not only the deaths and direct injuries caused by speed fiends in cars and vans, but the weakening of our nerves and the loss of working power result- ing from the dangers of walking and difficulties of sleeping caused by the speed, the rattle, and the noises of road vehicles. V‘re have strict safety laws applied to mines and workshops. Why not roads and streets ?—I am, Sir, &c.,
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