Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 February 1949 — Page 25
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By VICTOR PETERSON THERE is MURDER ON THE STREETS of Our Fair City. It is wanton murder. It is murder by the same citizens who consider themselves peaceloving, law-abiding, It is murder without premeditation. No gun, no knife, no club is involved. Headlines do not scream the news as they do in other crimes of violence. It is MURDER by automobile. But the dead are just as dead.
» . . NO MATTER how statistics are apalyzed, Indianapolis is an unsafe place to drive or walk.
‘Honest citizens wouldn't shoot a person. . down in cold blood, knife him in a dark alley -
er club him in the shadow of his home, Yet they commit “murder” with an auto-
mobile at the rate of 67 deaths a year. Every
five and a half days another citizen dies in Indianapolis traffic. So far it hasn't been you, but you could be the next. If violent murders were being committed at'the same pace, Indianapolis would be an armed camp. Citizens would be crying for the scalp of the police chief. But the traffic dead—they are accepted as inevitable. . n . MEANWHILE, the list of Indianapolis’ dead -and injured continues to mount. The traffic record of this city and state are written in the blood of their citizens. Since 1944 the average number of fatalities a year, has dropped about two persons. A drop from 67 to 65 is not encouraging. It
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AVERAGE AGE OF DRIVER 31 YEARS,
1945- 48 ACCIDENTS
129,931
TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS IN ACCIDENTS
27,222
DEAD
1945 ¢9 | 194¢[_&0. J
OR 90%
INJURED
Lo Br |
ACCIDENTS
[609¢] [714] 1
1947C 66 194864]
PEDESTRIAN
INJURED
1945 £3 828
1946 847 1947 805 1948 861
[8622 L, MOTORIST DEAD INJURED DEAD 43 1749 226 39 2094 21
34 2342 32 35 2630 29
- | [349] |
The traffic picture of Indianapolis is a pathetic one. Like the state, it has one of the worst records in the nation. Deaths and injuries are completely out of proportion to the population and the number of registered motor vehicles. This, the first of a second series: of articles on "MURDER" through traffic, intro-
duces the problem faced by Hoosierland's
- -capitel- city: fii could be luck, for the average number of injuries has risen from 2590 to 3039 per year. Last year, 64 people died and 3491 were injured in 8622 accidents. All this in some 53 square miles. That is almost 163 accidents to every square mile of the city, 66 injuries and more than one death. " - » ON A national basis, Indianapolis falls into a population classification of 32 cities between 200,000 and 500,000. We are next to the worst for the total number killed in traffic last year. Only Cincinnati “murdered” more on the streets. On the basis of fatalities per 100,000 population we rank fifth in butchering our citizens. On the basis of fatals per 10,000 regis-
TIF |S
SM | [2 7 819 4
11516 J¥A18!19/20/21
22 2526/2728
ONE TRAFFIC DEATH EVERY 57% DAYS
tered motor vehicles we are fourth highest on the murder list. In every analysis, Indianapolis shows a black traffic record. The greatest number of injuries are chalked up in hospital record books for persons involved in one or more car crashes. The greatest number who die are pedestrians.
Picture Story by RUTH ANN HAMILTON
How We Rate
How Indianapolis compared in 1948 with cities
_ of comparable size as shown in the 200,000 to 500, _000 classification,
Rating Rating fatal Pep. Fatals d per 10,000 1940 100
} , Teg. moter Oty Census Fatals pop. vehicles
Portland J 56 24 12 Denver i 46 19 13 Rochester ...... 28 ! 3 Beattle ... . 2 10 Houston 385,000 21 9 INDIANAPOLIS. 387,000 2 28 Kansas City .... ” 02k Newark .e } 16 Cincinnati ... y 28 30 Minneapolis .... y 8 New Orleans .... J 2
From a fatality point of view, pedestrians are THE problem in traffic control. They account for 58 per cent of all traffic deaths. » » . YEAR IN and year out the figures are about the same. The oldest pedestrian killed will be in his late 80's, the yonngest about 3. The average age is 55 while the average age of the “killer” back of the wheel is only 31. The “killers” are almost 100 per cent men,
20,931 accidents,"
Members of accident preve
a two-car crash
Principally because more men than woms en drive, the male is most frequently ine volved in accidents, He also is the one to die and to be injured. Of all the deaths, men and boys coms prise 78 per cent. They account for 58 per cent of all the injured. While most of the deaths are recorded at night, the majority of accidents happen during the day. The one hour of 5 p. ms to 6 p. m. is the time of most crashes. Day by day, it is most unsafe to be on
Indianapolis’ death-littered streets on Sate
urday. Friday and Monday also are dane gerous days, proved to be the safest. But it is never safe in accident-scarred Indianapolis. Death stalks at every inter. section, every crosswalk, with every car in motion. Steering these murder weapons are the citizens of Indianapolis. Statistics show they complacently shrug off an accident as
an accident—that they could happen to
anyone. . ¥ » , THE CRASH after crash which sends the dead to the morgue, the injured to hos pitals, is for the most part caused-—it doesn’t simply happen." From 1945 through 1948 there were In the commission of these traffic tragedies there were 27,222 law violations, or 90 per cent: In violating a traffic law, you have committed a crime. Your car becomes as much a death weapon as that gun, that knife, that club you would not touch.
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TOMORROW: The Pedestrian in Traffic.
Wednesday and Sunday have
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A FEW short years ago, wash day in Indianapolis housewives meant a dreaded interlude of lonesome scrubbing and soap-reddened hands. Today the advent of a bright new industry, the launderette, in the Hoosier capitol has turned the family wash into an easy social hour that bids to replace the corner drugstore and the neighborhood movie as a major source of recreation. Indianapolis’ first launderette made its bow here shortly
before the end of the war. Today the city has almost a score of launderettes, and the rental wash industry is growing fast.
~ ~ = » » » FROM A strictly woman's world, the self-service laundry has turned co-educational. Husbands now play a starring role in the launderetté scene, whether they just tag along to mind the baby or come entrusted with the sole responsibility of seeing the wash through while the little woman gets dinner, On heavy days—Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays, most launderette managers expect to handle at least 100 customers, Favorite laundry hours for the gents are Saturday afternoons and just after dinner on Monday evenings, when family heads who pop in to run the laundry through are likely to stay for an impromptu poker game or bull session.
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