THE DEATH-DEALING CAR [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—My attention has been drawn to the article on Road Accidents in your issue of September 3rd. After .assuming a
few deductions from the figures analysed in the Home Office letter you state " but the private car and its owner stand
convicted as the• chief culprits." I submit that you do not possess any evidence upon which to base such a statement. The National Safety First Association, with the active
support of all the motoring organizations and many other associations interested in the Road, have embarked on a careful analysis of the facts and figures relating to the fatal accidents in England and Wales since July 1st, 1932. Pressure was brought to bear in past years upon the authorities to supply
the necessary data, without success, and eventually the National Safety First Association has had to be equipped to collect the detail. From the details now obtained it is antici- pated that the main facts of such fatal accidents can be tabulated sufficiently clearly to indicate the circumstances of each case. Until such facts are available it is not safe to
deduce . . . that the main instrument of death and disaster is the private car."
In spite of the interested propaganda of recent months it is not yet a crime to drive a motor vehicle on the road. Though its presence may contribute to an accident it does not follow that its driver is at fault.
By all means enforce the law when this is necessary, and no one will support its enforcement more than the motorist ; but in Great Britain a man is innocent until his guilt is proved.— The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Ltd., 83 Pall Mall, London, S.W .1.
[The author of the article in question, being an owner-driver of considerable experience, cannot be convicted of bias against the private car.—En. Spectator.]
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