Safety Depends on Good Roads
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Overseas Safety Campaigners at the R.o.S.P.A. Congress Reveal that Road Safety is an International Problem
ADDRESSING over 1,000 delegates to the annual congress of the Royal Society for the Preven,ion of Accidents, in London, on Tuesday, Lord Llewellyn, president, said that road safety was everybody's job. Since the beginning of the century, some 7m. people had been killed or injured on the roads.
CHr. A. Sciver, Mayor of Westminster, who welcomed the delegates, referred to the magnificent work done by London Transport employees in keeping traffic moving during the Festival of Britain period.
He said that although there were 1m, more vehicles on the road, deaths were 22 per cent, lower and injuries 9 per cent, lower in the year ended May last than in the year ended May, 1939.
Safety Measures Overseas THE first session of the congress was devoted to a series of papers entitled "Road Safety in Other Lands." Improved roads were a factor which all speakers emphasized as having a vital influence on raising the standards of road safety.
The Danish Traffic Security Council had to rely to a large extent for financial support on organizations interested socially or connected with traffic problems. To this latter category belonged the oil and petrol companies, and the insurance and motor-trading concerns. Instead of asking for money, said the speaker, Mr. Ulrik Dim-too, director of information of the council, these concerns were persuaded to sponsor national campaigns of various kinds.
For example, all motorists were invited, last spring, to have their brakes tested free of charge in 2,000 localities. Garages put their staffs at the disposal of the council, and the insurance companies paid for the publicity. Oil companies, too, distributed safety posters bearing their trade marks.
Chaotic Conditions
The position in India was outlined by Mr. A. S. Trollip. The extremely mixed traffic to be dealt with, and the complete lack of discipline among pedestrians, most of whom were illiterate, made the problem of road safety in India most complex. The Safety First Association of India was inaugurated in 1934. One of its first tasks was to build a roundabout at a busy crossing in Bombay, which became the forerunner of many others all over the country. Mr. Trollip paid a tribute to the work of the Bombay Electric Supply and Tramways Co., Ltd., the passenger transport operator in Bombay, which was subsequently taken into public control. The policy of the company, he said, took into account the safety of the public while on the streets. A civil engineer was appointed by the B.E.S.T. to work under the Association and drawing-office facilities and technical assistance were provided.
As a result of the work of the Asson12
ciation and the company, proposals were put to the Government concerning long term planning for the improvement of road safety. These included the building of neighbourhood units to reduce the amount of traffic, the modifying of streets to deal with the mixed traffic on them, and the control of building development for the same purpose.
It was not until 1948 that the National Road Safety Organization of South Africa came into being, said Dr. P. A. Theron, in the third paper. He outlined the many problems facing the Organization in South Africa, and detailed the measures put into effect. A roadresearch unit and a civil-engineering division of the Ministry of Transport had been set up.
Mixed Traffic
The composite character of traffic in Sweden was referred to by Mr. H. Pettersson. Many bicycles were mixed up with the motor vehicles on the road, which included, in winter, a type of toboggan. Road-safety work in Sweden fell into two categories.
One dealt with investigations into the character and causes of road accidents, and the other with information and propaganda. Long-term education plans were carried on by the national organization, which also waged campaigns directed at particular aspects of road accidents.
Technical developments and the elimination of dangerous road conditions were the most promising lines of approach in Switzerland, said Mr. E. Joh°. Experience had shown that good results could be obtained at relatively low expense. The main aids to safe and smooth traffic flow on crossings were well-defined intersections. Good roads, clear signs and rules were essential.
In the United States, said Mr. P. C. Hutton, the traffic problem was one of the major social and economic problems facing the country.
Road safety, was, he said, an engineering job. A major part of the work of the national safety council was concerned with the safety of commercial vehicles. Much propaganda was directed at commercial-vehicle operators and the Safe Driver Award scheme was recognized by drivers as the standard proficiency award of the professional driver
Drivers and the Law
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FEW problems of modern society have proved more difficult of solution than that of road safety" said Col. A. H. Farley, D.L., J.P., summing up his paper, "Road Safety from a Magistrate's Point of View." In his opinion the remedies fell under three headings:--(1) Greater education of drivers and pedestrians, (2) improved
engineering in the construction of better and more suitable roads, and (3) enforcement of the law. .
The coming generation, said Col. Farley, would benefit by the edudation now being given to it as young children. Rigidly controlled expenditure, on 'the other hand, would make it impossible for adequate work to be done to put the roads in good order.
The shortage and wastage in' the police force did not help to bring to justice all those who offended...daily against the laws for proper conduct on the highway. Referring to the indigrration which had been expressell at the employment of plain-clothes polic,e officers to catch offending drivers, Col. Farley said that he could find no quarrel with this practice. It had been described as unfair. Plain-clothes officers were employed in detecting every other breach of the law, so why not in motoring offences?
Although he did not suggest that harsh and unconscionable punishment should be inflicted for road offences, the speaker believed that the increasing dangers of the highway justified more adequate penalties than were imposed in some magistrates' courts.
He suggested that a defendant in any motoring case should be compelled to appear before the court. Most law. abiding citizens had an inherent horror of appearing in a magistrate's court. To lose a day or part of a day's work and stand the ordeal of appearing in court would often be a greater penalty than the small fine usually inflicted.
Unused Powers
Col. Farley referred to the many powers which were not frequently used by magistrates. He also showed how the maximum penalties were far greater than those normally inflicted. In the case of speeding, for example, the maximum penalty for a second conviction was E50, with the addition of a disqualification order for a third conviction.
Dangerous driving exacted similar penalties, and endorsement was obligatory. An offender could also be ordered to undertake a driving test. He believed that the greater sums paid in fines in recent years showed not that the police were becoming more vigilant, hut that bad driving was increasing.
Disciplining Bus Passengers ON the second day of the congress, much time was devoted to the discussion of suggestions proposed by delegates. A paper on safety education was also read. Among the tabled proposals was one to the effect that boarding and alighting from public service vehicles while in motion or away from authorized stopping places should be made an offence. This was put by the general manager of Middlesbrough Transport Department, Mr, F Lythoe, M.Inst.T.
.A report of the later proceedings will be published next week.