• Late Nights in the Grand Duchy
Page 65
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WHILST no mitigation is apparent in the rise in the number of road accidents., some exasperation may be natural at what seems to be a parallel increase in the volume of statistics on the subject. As with most statistics, it is a mistake to expect them to show what the reader wants to know, or to lead to some useful conclusion. They can at best provide raw material for speculation, which for the most part wanders completely away from their original purpose.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe have published a statistical survey of road accidents in 14 countries. The purpose of the document is said to be the prevention of accidents in the future, and E.C.E. claim that the information they have. collected shows "where concentrated efforts are required." A study of the figures suggests, however, as one would have imagined, that the collected information rather confuses the issue than adds something useful to what was already known about each individual country.
-Perhaps it helps a little to underline the fact that more pedestrians were killed on the roads than any other kind of road user, and that drivers and passengers of motorcycles ran them a close second. But what are we to make of the news that the peak of accidents occurs during the months of July, August and September? E.C.E. are, of course, ready with an explanation. "The lower rate of accidents in January and February," they say, "seems to be the consequence of a lower volume of traffic during these months." There is much virtue in that " seems."
Blurred the Focus During 1954, in the 13 European countries covered by the survey, there were 765,424 road accidents involving personal injury; 33,228 persons were killed and 915,826 injured. All but 100,000 of the accidents took place in Western Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy. E.C.E. might more profitably have concentrated on these four countries, rather than have blurred the focus of their survey by extending it from Eire to Turkey. The countries with a comparatively small number of accidents could have been treated separately.
The introduction to the survey makes this point with an admission that close comparison cannot be made between one country and another for several reasons, including differences in geographical and climatic conditions, in density of road network, and in pattern and density of traffic.
Naturally, this is borne out by the figures. For example, one is not surprised to learn that in Greece in 1954 there were 64 accidents, or 2 per cent. of the total, involving "drivers and passengers" on bicycles, while in Belgium there were 8,614, or 50 per cent. It might also be expected that, whereas 5 per cent, of the persons killed or injured in Jugoslavia were drivers or passengers of animal-drawn vehicles, the proportion for Switzerland was less than 1 per cent.'
Some of the other statistics are more mysterious. They may be capable of a simple explanation if one knew all the facts, but as they stand they can be only the subject of conjecture, interesting if not useful. In 1954 there were 6,836 "horses ridden or led and other animals" shown in one of several columns under the general heading of vehicles involved in accidents. Of these horses and other animals (one is left to wonder what other animals!) 5,375 or nearly 80 per cent, were being ridden or led in Western Germany and only 90 in Great Britain. The second highest figure is 554 for Switzerland.
It might be a pity to know the answers to the questions that at once spring to mind. It can hardly be that the deference shown to animals in the British Highway Code, and the well-known British love for animals, are sufficient in theniselves to explain the figures. It may be that the roads of Germany, apart from the autobahnen, are swarming with animals anxious to throw their drivers and earn themselves a place in the accident statistics. If so, evidence on the point has not yet reached this country.
The same column has other surprises. Of the 5,375 accidents in Western Germany, 52 were fatal. The same number of deaths, 52, from the same cause were reported in Jugoslavia, but out of only 194 accidents. In Belgium the proportion was one in 340.
Further investigation into the mortality rate adds to the confusion. According to the statistics, the best place to have a maid accident is Belgium if you wish, to survive. You are twice as likely to die in Norway or Switzerland, three times as likely in Eire, and six timeS---as likely in Jugoslavia.
Mysterious Influence The habits of foreigners have always puzzled the insular British. The hints on the subject that the E.C.E. figures provide merely add to their perplexity. In Italy 18 per cent, of, the accidents in 1954 happened on a Sunday, and only 14 per cent. in 1953. Life on Sunday seems to have followed much the same pattdrn from one year to the other in all the other countries. What mysterious influence affected Italy alone on this one day of the week? Probably we shall never find -out.
No more explicable is the night life of the people of Luxembourg. In that country 61 per cent. of the • accidents in 1954 happened between the hours of mid night and 3 a.m. In nearby Belgium the proportion was less than 3 per cent., and it was 21 per cent. in France, a country whose inhabitants are not noted for going to bed early. Unless their own radio programmes have an unfortunate effect upon the people of the Grand Duchy, there seems no reason for so many of them being on the streets so late at night in so accident-prone a state of mind.
The most useful feature of the E.C.E. report is the general comparison between accidents in 1953 and 1954. There was a slight reduction in several countries in the number of accidents where bicycles were involved, although matched with a larger increase in accidents to. drivers and passengers of motorcycles. Apart from animal-drawn vehicles, the only other category where there was a fall was that made up of coaches, buses and trolleybuses. The most spectacular reduction was in Belgium, from 4,110 to 1,216.
For the countries where figures were available, there was a total increase of about 1,000 in the number of accidents involving tramcars. Most of this was accounted for by_ Great Britain, where the figure rose from 133 to 926. In respect of goods vehicles, the' increase in the total was from 139,259 to 157,479. Here again, one country was responsible for a large part of the rise. In Italy, the figure nearly trebled, going up from 5,199 to 14,569.