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“ f *i; • V 1:- l Thursday, May 14, 1953 COMMENT ON MEN AND THINGS By The Spectator THE CLINTON CHRONICLE Page Five 1950 there were 915 and in 1951 the number jumped to 999. ‘We had r>ot learned that you can not educate the drunks and wild Tennessee, 79; Georga, 8.3; Ala- ment by bama, 92; Louisiana, 87; Texas, 6.7- Arizona, 9.2. Texas and Maryland are the only drivers. The superintedent of State i ones 0 f these states below the na- Police tells us that 85 per cent of j tional average. its intrusion into the very heart of our daily activities? We believe, ! he said, that the so-called benefits of a socialized state are illusory and a snare and a delusion.” the trouble comes from 15 per cent i of the drivers.’ What about that 15 per cent in South Carolina? Ned H. Dearborn, i president of the National Safety When we look at the above list we wonder if human life is cheaper in the south or if Government is less competent. Virginia improved her traffic rate in 1952, but still is Anything wrong with South Car* j be ruled off the highways and olina? Our Nation went intc> the quickly. He contends that unless First' World War in order to end : this is done by stricter enforcc- wars; and then got into the Second | ment> urider more rigid statutes, World War to put a clincher on |the fools of the highways will con- that, presumabily, as they do in, tinue to get away with murder, the General Assembly. Our State Council, urges that reckless drivers | 50 per cent higher than our neigh bor, Pennsylvania, w'ith her 50- Legislature has put on a deficit, perhaps to end all deficits, if we can delve into the depths of states manship, or solve the riddles of the great wars and their disastrous con sequences. There is something wrong: “Why are South Carolina highways the deadliest and bloodiest in the Na tion?” That question is a headline in The Tri-State Safety Journal. Is this just an idle question? Let me quote, in part, what that paper says: “South Carolina has a 20 per cent higher traffic death rate than any other state in the union. Five times more people are killed on the highways and streets of South Carolina for each mile trav eled than in Rhode Island. The cold statistes are based upon 100 million automobile miles trav eled. There may be some argument as to. whether such statistics show the true picture. There can Ge no ar gument that the picture is grim. Why does South Carolina hold the deadliest and bloodiest high way death record in the entire United States? Did you know that 802 persons were killed in traffic accidents in South Carolina in 1952? Did you realize that this repre sents 76 more deaths than were re corded in 1951, when the total was 733? Did you know that in addition to the deaths, that 6,636 persons were injured, many of them to be come hopeless cripples for life, an increase of 760 injuries in 1952 over 1951? . How can this carnage be halted? The Highway Patrol of the State Highway Department is doing all within its power through enforce ment and education. Its power is limited, however, by the statutes, by too few patrolmen on the high-j ways, by cussed stubbornness of many people who refuse to believe that they can be killed. :.Tfc “ - Stricter enforcement can come The National Safety Council through employment of additional patrolmen and the passage x of stronger statutes. Fines don’t seem to have much effect upon the ha bitual reckless driver. Suspension mile-per-hour speed limit and with drastic law enforcement. ! Which means we lost 500 lives (uselessly last year due to incompetent gov ernment.” Several years ago one of our Roanoke editors told us that the Virginia highway accident rate was disgraceful. It is still disgrace ful. The traffic death rate in South Carolina is 50 per cent higher than in Virginia. Higher by far than of license for a short period may j any other state in the Union. For help, but doesn’t control An additional problem is the vol ume of traffic on highways built to handle much smaller number of cars- Bigger, better highways are needed—but no highway has yet been designed or built that makes it fool-proof. Forty persons were killed on the widely heralded New Jersey turn pike during the first 10 months of its operation. “As far as we have the records for 1952 the number of motor traf fic deaths in the. United States is 7.3 for each 100,000,000 vehicle miles traveled. The rate of: Maine, 4.3; Vermont, 4.3; Rhode Island, 2.4; New York, 5.5; Dela ware, 6.0; New Hampshire, 4.0; Massachusetts, 3.4; Connecticut, 3.0; New Jersey, 4.4; Pennsylvania, 5.0. — As soon as we cross the Mason and Dixon line the rate jumps re markably. For instance every state south of this boundary, including the southwest, is higher than any of the above states. Maryland, 6.6; Virginia, 7.9; North Carolina, 8.1; South Carolina, 12.1; Florida, 7.6; Mississippi, 7T; Arkansas, 8.2; New Mexico, 10.8; West Virginia, 7.4; Kentucky, 9.8; />v each mile traveled the chance of meeting death is three times great er than either of the four New Eng land states. In fact, it is five times greater than in Rhode Island. One road in South Carolna is called the Yankee Graveyard. Another is called the Devil’s Highway, be cause of the accidents. • • • Says John L. Lewis: “The drift toward a vast, Federal edict of all the facets of American life in busi ness is ever increasing.‘‘ “Shoud we not,” he asked, “give careful thought to halting this vicious en croachment of the Federal Govem- Drunken Driving Brings High Percentage Of Highway Accidents Columbia.—Eighteen per cent of the total of 652 fatal accidents in: South Carolina in 1952 involved a| driver who had been drinking, rec ords of the State Highway Depart-J ment show, but only 8 per cent of| the 29,305 drivers involved in all accidents had taken intoxicants. Analysis of the figures another way seems to further bear out the conclusion of traffic safety experts that the drunken driver is more likely to have a fatal accident than; the one who heeds the admonition of “don’t drive while drinking.” Considering the 13,698 accidents in which it w’as definitely reported whether or not the driver was drink ing, the following results show up: Driver drinking in 2,324 accidents, of which 123 were fatal; one of every 19 accidents involved death. Driver not drinking in 11,374 ac cidents, of which 277 were fatal; only one in every 41 accidents involved death. Thus the chances of a driver who has been drinking to survive an ac cident are just half as good as those j of the sober motor vehicle operator. mi‘ TRAD! MARK “DIE FOR ALL YOU ARE WORTH” Hugh L. Eichelberger NEW YORK LIFE MAN 32 Years Experience PROFESSIONAL INSURANCE INFORMATION FURNISHED FREE Member The National Association of Life Underwriters America’s Biggest Cola Value! 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Dr. Lawson writes: “We have been going along teach ing that traffic accidents were due to reckless driving and that it was up to each individual driver, and with the proper educational pro gram our death rate would drop. ‘Our citizens have done every thing humanly possible to promote many awards for her program of safety education, Virginia has had traffic safety education. Our death rate rapidly increased. In i 1949 Virginia had 810 traffic deaths. In -.j PEPSI-COLA BOTTLING CO. GREENVILLE, S. C. , • here’s how... Evcrv survev shows it ... every dealer knovk« it—America /toe* for the "Rocket"! It’a among the mo!*t t t admired automobiles around N»day— this high-powered, higb<4tyled Super ”88”—and that's a mighty profitable -aiUuUion for over-* “Koekrt * owner! For thi* popularity pays off BIG — at trade-in time! It means that ‘K«>eket 88" wdl Mill In* in *• ■.... I R E NTH U S I A S M r the "Rocket" can mean Je # money in you r /V pocket -r *./ I <• > .V**' V >,. > . v - .v. 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