The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

:
16 The Health Bulletin December, 192't
road. Twenty-one of the forty fatal
accidents occun-ed during fair weather,
and twenty-five of the forty accidents
occurred in the daytime. Eleven of the
forty fatal accidents were caused by
automobiles running over pedestrians.
In the opinion of the writer of this
article, the following tells the story
Eight of the fatal accidents were produced
by the drivers of the death cars
exceeding the speed limit. Four people
were killed on account of the drivers
of the death cars being on the wrong
side of the road. Four of them died
on account of the driver trying to take
the right-of-way when he did not have
it. Five v.-ere killed by the fool, known
to all motor drivers, who is eternally
cutting in ahead of another car. Four
people were killed by the car trying to
pass on the wrong side, and three of
them met death on account of the
morons who were driving the cars, undertaking
to pass another car coming
up hill or on a curve. Nine people were
killed by the car running off the road.
The report does not say, but it is presumed
that the most of them met death
by the cars not being under control, or
running at such an excessive rate of
speed that a curve could not be taken.
Just about the time the Revenue
Bureau reported its findings the New
York Times published a description of
the proposed drastic new automobile
traffic law in Italy. Some of the high
lights of that law should at least prove
interesting to our people. In the first
place, they propose to limit the speed to
a maximum of nine miles per hour.
This at least indicates that the Italians
know about where to lay their hands
on the chief trouble in automobile
fatalities. They propose in the case
of an accident to hold the responsible
driver of the car guilty until he proves
his innocence. The mere fact of proof
that a driver has exceeded the speed
limits subjects him to a minimum
sentence of one year in prison. When
a pedestrian is killed on account of
reckless or careless driving of a car,
the driver of the automobile w'ill meet
with the minimum sentence of ten
years and the maximum of twenty
years in the penitentiary. In the case
of an accident in which a pedestrian is
injured or killed, the proposed law is
said to presume that the motorist will
be held to be at fault, and that the
burden of proof of his innocence will
be entirely upon him. The Times reports
that, although there are only one
hundred thousand automobiles in the
whole of Italy with forty million population,
the drivers of most of the cars
are siJeed maniacs. In the language of
the Times reporter "they worship
speed. They race each other along
dusty, bumpy roads in a way which
would not be allowed in any other
country in the world."
We would like here to reiterate the
following opinion that we have had
all the time about the operation of
automobiles, and that is that the driver
of every automobile should have good
vision, should have a reputation for
care and for obeying the traffic laws,
and, above all, should have a reputation
for courtesy and sobriety, and who
is able to keep his car under control
and not to lose his head under average
circumstances.
Unless there is a better observance
of the traffic laws we have ;
unless the
drivers of automobiles are more careful
than in the past ; unless the mania
for speed is curbed and controlled ; and
unless the average driver manifests
more respect for the rights of others
on the road, it is very probable that
the parrot brigade of uplifters will succeed
in getting .some such drastic laws
as the Italians are proposing on the
statute books in North Carolina. If
this should ever be the case, a great
deal of injustice and petty restrictions
may be exi>ected to be thrown around
all motorists, and several thousand
otherwise perfectly safe and responsible
drivers will be deprived of the right
and pleasure of operating motor cars
on the highways of North Carolina just
because perhaps they may be deaf in
one ear, have one leg, or an appetite
for apple pie. The pendulum always
swings back fully and completely and
the reaction from the present dangers
of the highways will probably be just
as destructive and just as disastrous
to travel in North Carolina as the laws
proposed by the Italians.