Jul 25, 2018 1 min read

There was some justified elation when the long Fourth of July weekend ended with a total of “only 619” traffic deaths. The elation resulted from a comparison with estimates that 700 to 800 would die on the highways over that period.

But all the traffic accident news for 1968 is not good news. For instance, by the end of the first five months, to May 31, statistics showed 20,380 Americans had been killed in traffic accidents. During the same five-month period in 1967, the deaths numbered 19,270. The gain was 1,110 this year.

There is only slight consolation in the fact that there is some improvement by a different measuring stick. This is the traffic deaths per 100 million miles traveled. The figure last year was 5.1 and this year it is 5.

The conflict in the improvement in percentage against the increased number of dead is accounted for by more cars going more miles.

War or no war, American streets and highways continue to be among the unsafest places on earth.