“THEY CALL US CIVILIZED”
Including the Revolutionary War, the United
States has been engaged in six major conflicts, not
taking into consideration numerous armed argu
ments with Indian tribes. The cost in lives was
about 300,000.
During the past 15 years, which is about equal
to the time consumed in the wars mentioned, no
fewer than 350,000 Americans have been killed in
automobile accidents.
Our highways, apparently, are about as dangerous
to life and limb as the battlefields were.
These are some of the thoughts put forward by
a little booklet—“They Call Us Civilized,” com
piled and distributed by the Travelers’ Insurance
Company. If future historians fii}d it puzzling why
mankind so long tolerated armed conflicts, what
will they make of a nation that was unable to stay
the traffic hazards of peacetime?
Last year about 39,000 persons were killed in
automobile accidents, which was 1,400 more than
in 1928 when the number of registrations was the
game as for 1932. Despite preachments, more drastic
traffic regulations, increased traffic officers, the
death rate grew.
It is high time that the problem be tackled on
• comprehensive scale. States, counties and cities
ought to recognize it as a common danger, and get
together to deal with it on a common plane. Per
haps no more regulations are needed. In fact, the
transcontinental motorist needs to be on the alert
every hour of the day to keep himself informed
on the regulations of the particular State, county
or city through which he may be passing. If regu
lations could be standardized both for the motorist
and the pedestrian, who is not always free from
responsibility, a long step forward would be achieved.
Confusing laws and regulations form by no means
the least part of the problem to be solved.
