I. THE FACTS
I. THE FASCIST RECORD Following are the latest comparative statistics of the motor slaughter in the Great Powers before the war. They were compiled by the U. S. Census Bureau and are for deaths per one hundred thousand vehicles (excluding motor cycles) in 1934: ITALY ... ... GERMANY ... ... ENGLAND & WALES FRANCE ... ... UNITED STATES
... ... ... ... ...
54.5 50.2 31.7 17.2 12.3
Switzerland (50.0), Holland (44.0) and Belgium (36.5) also had bad records. but here the totals of casualties were so much smaller that no real comparison can be made. Other figures were: Eire, 24.8; Australia, 13.8; Canada, 9.1; New Zealand, 6.6. Of course these figures are not conclusive. There are other factors to beltaken into consideration, notably density of population and car mileage, though, in at least one case, the U.S. as compared with England and Wales, these are probably mutually balancing. Nevertheless, clearly, these statistics provide a certain basis of comparison, and, to this extent, their significance is unmistakeable, for, if we take the foreign policy pursued by Britain in the decade before the war as the criterion for this country, we see that there was an almost direct ratio between the motor slaughter in the Great Powers and their respective sympathies with Fascism. In any case the general parallel is unmistakable. The deplorable prominence of Britain may come as a surprise to many. It is indeed surprising and deplorable that this most easily detectable of crimes should be so prevalent in a country where in every other direction the police are the vigilant custodians of the national life. It is still more surprising and deplorable that this meanest and most callous of crimes should be so prevalent in a country that for so long has prided itself on its fair-mindedness, its record in protecting the weak and its detestation of cruelty. 9
It may be a further surprise to many to learn that it was the common opinion among Dominion and foreign visitors to this country before the war that British drivers were among the worst, and the worst-mannered, in the world. Few who talked with these visitors can have failed to hear some such comment and few who travelled abroad can have failed to note the fact. The Motor Correspondent of the "Tatler" - a fashionable and therefore far from anti-motorist publication - once quoted a French observer as describing the English driver in a hurry as, "the biggest cad in Europe" (3.7.35), and English drivers were then, and still are, usually in a hurry.
II. TOLL OF THE MOTORISTS Now for the casualties in Britain: the absurdly styled "Toll of the Roads," but, of course, in fact, the toll of the motorists. The figures quoted here are those issued by the Ministry of Transport. Those issued by the Registrar-General are higher, but substantially the totals are the same.* The Ministry of Transport figures are quoted here because they are also used elsewhere with reference to details not included in the Registrar-Generals' Returns. It must be noted further, that the Ministry figures are themselves incomplete: (a) The publication of road accident statistics was not begun until 1909. (b) The reporting of road accidents was not made compulsory until 1930. Moreover, as is known, it has never been properly carried out, the recent, war period having been marked by special slackness. (c) For the first five years (1909-12) accidents "attributed to cyclists" were not included in the statistics.