Motorbus Fatalities.
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An interesting White Paper, of street accidents in England and Wales for the eight months ended the 31st December last, has been issued by the Home Office. In a grand total of 17,973 accidents, of which 746 were fatal and 17,227 non-fatal, a total of 9,339 (429 fatal) belongs to horse-drawn vehicles, a total of 2,979 (69 fatal) to tramcars, and a total of 5,655 (248 fatal) to all classes of motor vehicles. The total of motorbus fatalities was 50, and of non-fatal accidents, which are ascribed to the tiallievehicles, 1,106 Of these, no less than 42 and 869, respectively, occurred within the Metropolitan police area, whilst the City of London, on behalf of whose inhabitants an artificial protest was made at the Mansion House on the 22nd June last, has experienced a single fatal motorbus accident, and that a case of suicide, in addition to 180 non-fatal accidents. The London figures for horsedrawn vehicles are: Metropolitan police district, 99 fatal and 3,892 non-fatal: City of London, 9 fatal and 728 non-fatal. The result of the return must be sadly disappointing to those busybodies who have glibly talked about daily fatalities with motorbuses. Our interest chiefly centres in the fact that the fatal accidents, during the past five years, for the Metropolitan police area, in respect of motorbuses, have been : J914, two; 1905, three: 1906, 25; 1907, 35; 1908 (complete yeari, 60. It is a matter for great regret that there should have been any fatal accidents, but a proportion is inseparable from the conduct of traffic in any busy city, and we must call attention to two factors that have a material bearing upon the increase for 1908 over 1907. In the first place, there were numerous tramway extensions, which added to the congestion of the streets; in the second place, there wore, on the average, 150 more motorbuses in commission-1,050 compared with 900. Another point is this: for the six months ended the 31st Mardi, 1907, with only 757 motorbuses in commission, there were 24. fatal accidents in the Metropolitan police area, The figures for the whole year of 1908 are, therefore, relatively better, although they fail to maintain the steady decrease of motorbus fatalities which we were able to set out, for the three completed periods of six months ended the 31st March, 1908, in our issue of the 25th June last. Had the older ratio—of fatalities to vehicles in service —been maintained, there would have been seven more deaths in 1908.