Over the years, a thousand plans

Over the years, a thousand plans and panaceas have crossed our desks. Highway construction is the answer. Safety belts are the cureall ; padded ^instrument panels; speed governors; electronic police, men; higher—licensing—requirements. All these and many more are advanced as the one final answer to the problem of highway accidents. Putting all thousand into effect would undoubtedly help. But it is our conviction that neither science nor engineering, no matter how wisely or widely applied, can provide a permanent solution. This problem has its roots in the minds of. men, and it is there we must look for the answer.

Annual studies of highway accidents have shown that more than ninety per cent of the vehicles involved were in good condition; the highways were adequate if used at the speeds for which they were designed. The weather was found to be a negligible factor. Curved roads were found to be no more hazardous than straight ones. Over the whole span of the pass-' - ing scene, it has been found that these were the variables in tHTS equation of highway safety. The constant, unchanging factor was the man, woman, or child who sat behind the wheel of a car and transformed it from a useful servant to a projectile of destruction; or who, as a pedestrian walked carelessly into the path of danger.

We are not psychologists. We cannot attempt to analyze the motives or impulses by which rational human beings become automotive killers. We know that some of these are too complex for the layman to understand. But some are so obvious that they sound a steady theme throughout our statistical surveys. Excessive speed is a killer, so is driving while intoxicated, weary or ill. Violation of the rules of the road is a prelude to disaster, so are gross Carelessness and the willful abuse of highway etiquette. Although it is