Traffic collision

“ Irresponsible driving, lack of traffic controls, and lack of concern for their danger on the part of pedestrians, bicyclists, and wagon drivers contributed to an acceleration in the number of accidents and casualties that paralleled the increase in traffic. In 1969 there were 2,070 deaths resulting from about 5,300 reported accidents. Only about 40 percent of the victims were occupants of the vehicles involved and, of them, a considerably larger number of passengers than drivers were killed. ”

“ Control of access also has safety benefits on two-lane highways. A study on a two-lane rural highway with average daily traffic of about 8,000 vehicles showed that, if the number of at-grade intersections and roadside business driveways per mile were increased a hundredfold, the expected accident rate would increase approximately 14 times. [29]
Roadside Safety
One of the major accident types is the single vehicle run-off-the-road accident. Often the vehicle strikes an object such as a tree, rock, sign, or guardrail, resulting in injury or death to the vehicle’s occupants. ”

“ Where a motor vehicle carries an indivisable oversize or overload cargo, to the detriment of traffic safety, it shall be driven at a time, along the route and at the speed designated by the traffic control department of the public security organ and hung with conspicuous signs. ”

“ When one considers how difficult to control, particularly amid crowded traffic, a horse-drawn vehicle is, and how very easy it is to control an up-to-date automobile, one cannot but feel that a little more consideration should be shown the automobilist by those in authority.
The road obstructions, slow-going traffic which will not get out of one's way, carts left unattended and the like, make most of the real and fancied dangers which are laid to the door of the very mobile motor-car. ”

“ When a motor vehicle cannot run normally on an expressway due to a breakdown or a traffic accident, it shall be pulled or towed away by a rescue vehicle or an obstacle-removing vehicle.
Article 69 No units or individuals shall intercept and inspect vehicles running on expressways, except the people's police of the public security organs who are performing emergency official duties according to law. ”

“ Where there is no one to guide him, it becomes quite difficult to avoid collisions, especially in congested thoroughfares, for truth to tell, there appears to be an absolute lack of road courtesy on the part of most automobile drivers. When more than one man is assigned to a vehicle, the helper should take the position on the ground where he has an unobstructed view of traffic and pedestrians approaching from all directions. ”

“ And few dwellers in large cities have not heard the cry of the firemen, as it rises from an indistinct murmur into a loud shout, before which the traffic, however dense, melts away to the side of the road and leaves a clear passage for the engines, driven at high speed and yet with such skill that accidents are of rare occurrence. ”

“ Bingaman, supra, the evidence in the present case shows that coupled cars, under control of a single driver, subject the highways to increased wear and tear because of their tendency to skid and sway on curves and in passing other traffic, and that the length of the caravans and the inefficiency and irresponsibility of the drivers, casually employed, increase traffic congestion and the inconveniences and hazards of automobile traffic. These circumstances have caused the state to make increased provision for the policing of the traffic. ”

“ Because of the determined work of private organizations, like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the number of alcohol-related traffic deaths has dropped about 30 percent in the last 10 years, but it's very clear that we've got a long, long way to go. Nothing is as terrible as collisions that occur when an adult under the influence gets behind the steering wheel with a child in the car. ”

“ Any driver wishing to perform a manoeuvre such as pulling out of or into a line of parked vehicles, moving over to the right or to the left on the carriageway, or turning left or right into another road or into a property bordering on the road, shall first make sure that he can do so without risk of endangering other road-users travelling behind or ahead of him or about to pass him, having regard to their position, direction and speed. ”

“ Irate Driver. And I shall summon you! This thoroughfare's mine as well as yours, let me tell you, Scorcher!
Pedestrian (who has been nearly killed by the collision, and is lying prostrate after being cannoned on to the path, very feebly) . And what about me, gentlemen? Have I any right of way?
The constant strain of driving motor-cars is said to be responsible for a form of nervous break-down which shows a decided tendency to increase. One certainly comes across a number of cars afflicted in this way. ”

“ Road works are much the commonest form of obstruction and differ from the rest, such as vehicle accidents, breakdowns, landslip and soil subsidence, in being for the most part predictable and so allowing time for warning signs to be put up in advance.
193. At present the official requirements for signing temporary road obstructions are set out in two Traffic Safety Codes issued jointly by the Departments. One is concerned with all-purpose roads only, as distinct from motorways, but confines itself to the signing of road works and does not refer to accidents or other emergencies. ”

“ In the first place, an automobile skimming along the road at the rate of sixty or seventy miles an hour has in it elements of danger which are entitled to some consideration. The danger is not only for those who are in the car, but also for others who may wish to use the same road. An accumulated mass of experience has amply demonstrated this. That is the underlying reason for the speed laws—not that young men may be "pinched" by "traffic cops" and fathers be made to pay fines.
If the young man driving the car were the only one concerned in the danger, it might be different. ”

“ No one shall force or instigate a driver to drive a motor vehicle in violation of the laws and regulations on road traffic safety or of the requirements for safe driving of motor vehicles, or connive at such violations. ”

“ From the point of view of driver behavior, the three-lane highway suffers a psychological disadvantage which might well result in an abnormally high accident rate. On a two-lane road, a driver engaged in a passing Maneuver must encroach upon the left lane, the lane which is definitely reserved for traffic in the opposite direction, and he does it with full realization that his passing is accomplished only in the face of the superior rights of drivers in the opposing lane. ”

“ Snow was falling faster as the headlight picked out a tangled mass of wreckage smoldering a hundred feet inside the median separating the green and white lanes. A crumpled body lay on the pavement twenty feet from the biggest clump of smashed metal, and other fragments of vehicles were strung out down the roadway for fifty feet. There was no movement.
NorCon thruway laws were strict and none were more rigidly enforced than the regulation that no one other than a member of the patrol set foot outside of their vehicle while on any thruway traffic lane. ”

“ Slow-Going Vehicles. —Horse-drawn vehicles should travel on the outer side of the road if possible in order to allow faster going vehicles to pass them readily. Often a slow-going truck will take the middle of the roadway and stubbornly keep it even when asked courteously by horn to get over. In trying to pass by going partially off the paved way motors have slipped down due to the soft earth shoulders, with serious injuries to both persons and machines. Where traffic is heavy congestion results from slow-going vehicles not taking the outer side of the way, with its usual disastrous effects. ”

“ The advent of the automobile has brought a new factor into the matter of road making and mending, but certainly he would be an ignorant person indeed who would claim that the automobile does a tithe of the road damage that is done by horse-drawn traffic.
At a high rate of speed, however, the automobile does raise a fine sandy dust, and exposes the macadam. A French authority states that up to twenty to twenty-five kilometres an hour the automobile does little or no harm to the roads, but when they increase to over fifty kilometres an hour they do damage the surface somewhat. ”

“ It is recommended that domestic legislation should provide that road-users shall not obstruct traffic or risk making it dangerous by throwing, depositing or leaving any object or substance on the road or by creating any other obstruction on the road. ”

“ We believe that an effective step which could be taken to reduce these casualties would be to ensure that at the great majority of junctions, and certainly at those junctions where serious danger exists, the minor road is distinguished from the major so that drivers on the minor road are given a clear indication that they should give way to major road traffic. ”

“ Damage to roads [ (3) below] is slow, and therefore impractical as a D-day or near D-day activity.
(1) Change sign posts at intersections and forks; the enemy will go the wrong way and it may be miles before he discovers his mistakes. In areas where traffic is composed primarily of enemy autos, trucks, and motor convoys of various kinds, remove danger signals from curves and intersections. ”

“ Emergency Signs 72. Signs will be needed from time to time to indicate temporary obstructions of the carriageway in the event of accident or when road works are being carried out. We cannot emphasise too strongly the need to ensure that clear and early warning is provided of any obstruction occurring on these high speed roads. This will call for quicker and more informed thought and action than anything that the road traffic authorities in this country are likely to have encountered in the past. ”

“ When the car's full, gates are shut; cars built at the shops to hold just so many, and no more allowed on. That road is run right up to the rules and you don't often hear of an accident on it. Had a head-on collision at Schenectady union station and run over a weak bridge at Cincinnati, not many years ago, but nobody hurt, and no passengers lost. ”

“ The one sure remedy for Grade crossing and highway automobile accidents is safe driving. Accidents generally result from carelessness or incompetence. Instead of burdening the people with compulsory insurance, legislation and tax issues to eliminate all grade crossings, educate the public and enforce practical traffic codes. Reckless and drunken drivers should not be allowed on highways. They are a constant menace to life and property. Those who dash across grade crossings and give no heed to traffic regulations should, after warning be deprived of licenses. ”

“ Article 30 Where roads are so damaged as to cave in, become bumpy or ruined by water, or bulge out, or where such traffic facilities as traffic signal lights, traffic signs and traffic line markings are damaged or disappeared, the maintenance or control department for road and traffic facilities shall put up warning signs, and make repairs without delay. ”

“ Hence the motor car made good progress, nor was it until Fiftieth Street was reached that a [Pg 208] block of traffic caused them to halt. An automobile had collided with a delivery wagon, and a wordy contest was waging between the driver of the wagon, the chauffeur, one of the occupants of the automobile and a traffic-squad policeman.
"You don't know your business," a loud voice proclaimed, addressing the policeman. "If you did you wouldn't be sitting up there like a dummy already. ”

“ For many years, highway professionals have known that highway safety could best be achieved by minimizing traffic turbulence and speed variance. Cooperative research by the Bureau of Public Roads and several State highway departments in the late 1950’s and 1960’s verified these views. Both two- and four- lane main rural highways without control of access, as well as urban and rural freeways, exhibited the lowest accident involvement rate for vehicles operating near the average speed for all traffic. For vehicles traveling at both lower and higher speeds, the involvement rate increased sharply. ”

“ There is ample support for a legislative determination that the peculiar character of this traffic involves a special type of use of the highways, with enhanced wear and tear on the roads and augmented hazards to other traffic, which imposes on the state a heavier financial burden for highway maintenance and policing than do other types of motor car traffic. ”

“ So handle them, not as some brakemen do egg cases, but carefully; never move the cars without going to see that no one is under them cooking his dinner, that the occupants of cars are all in a place of safety, and never make a fly or kick with them, always have the engine coupled up, and don't uncouple it until the car has got to the place it is to be left. Roadmasters and foremen should see that the opening for ingress and egress from the cars is on the side away from the traffic. ”

“ Such space shall also be sufficient to permit vehicles turning left from the interregional highway to halt if necessary at the center of the intersection before completing the turning maneuver and to permit through traffic to pass such halted vehicles in safety. ”