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Death on the Roads The Home Office return on road accidents in 1032 shows that they reached a total of 184,006 as compared with 181,007 in 1931. Fatal accidents were 6,667 in number as against 6,681 in the previous year, which means that an average of over 18 people are killed a day in Great Britain.. Rather curiously the increase in accidents over last year's figures is ascribed to the pedal bicycle, whose casualties have gone up substantially, though whether an accident caused by collision between a pedal bicycle and a motor-car is attributed to the former or the latter is not quite clear. Presumably the increase is in accidents caused to pedestrians by pedal cyclists. Altogether in view of the increase in the number of cars licensed the roads are becoming proportionately a little safer, though it is in reality small satisfaction to reflect that while there is an actual increase in the number of accidents it is not as great as the increase in the number of ears. What does appear to emerge is that the abolition of the speed limit has not in itself increased the danger of the roads. But a limit in villages might still be quite reasonably imposed, as it is in France and other countries.
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