Lives Which Drivers Have Saved
Page 14
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
D OAD-ACCIDENT statistics, like so many others, are apt to give a false impression of the state of affairs in this connection, We do not, suggest that they are incorrect, but the constant harping upon the numbers of killed and injured on the road is apt to sway public opinion against drivers of all classes of motor vehicle, despite the fact that, in a very large number of cases, the blame does not rest upon those in control of what may, for want of a better term, be called the primary instruments.
We consider that more emphasis should be placed upon the saving of life and limb, which is so often effected by drivers. During some 36 years on the road we have personally had the good fortune not to be responsible for an accident involving harm to a human being, and this is not due to driving slowly. Time and again, however, often more than once in a day, we have had to swerve or brake to avoid contacting some foolish pedestrian who has blindly stepped off the kerb right into our track, has suddenly appeared from behind a stationary vehicle, or who, seeing a wanted bus at the other side of the thoroughfare, has run into the traffic stream apparently oblivious of the possibilities of danger.
Then there are the children who are allowed to play on or near the roads. Some have chased an elusive ball into our path, 'others have played " touch" with the same effect; naughty little boys have' fallen from their illicit perches on the backs of lorries. Every motorist could add many examples to these, quite apart from cases in which other users of the road, including uncontrolled animals, have caused danger both to 'themselves and the drivers of the vehicles concerned.
It may well be said that for every person killed or injured, a dozen have been saved by the skill and close attention to general road conditions • which are normally displayed by the men or women at the wheel, but, of course,. this cannot be taken into consideration in the compilation of statistics., Consequently, we are always presented with the worse side of the picture, practically no account being taken of the other. If all the people who take risks on the highways suffered as.their foolhardiness might seem to warrant, then the accident figures would be greatly multiplied.
We have also, so far, not referred to the incidental accidents which so often occur as the result of lack of care and thought on the part of those who are not on vehicles. When there are two, and possibly, three, lines of traffic proceed ing in the same direction, people walking alongside them will, in their haste, often step off the — pavement to overtake others on its edge. This may necessitate a rapid stop by the nearest car, lorry or bus, with the dallger of an end-on crash with a following vehicle, or a quick pull-out from near the gutter, thus risking a side " swipe."