HomeMy WebLinkAbout1967-TSC-rpt.pdf The°° Traffic Safety Committee of the Town of Lexington in its continuing program
of Traffic and Pedestrian Safety, would like to take this opportunity to discuss
the problem of the growing number of requests made through the Lexington Board
of Selectmen for traffic markers; particularly for "Go Slow Children" signs We
are not unmindful of the fact that all parents are constantly striving to make
Lexington streets as safe as possible for their children, but we suggest that
before requesting still another sign the residents consider the following
FIRST The committee would like to stress the fact that the streets and highways
were made for vehicular traffic and not for the youngsters to play upon and it
is the duty of the parents to see that children do not use the highway as a
playground
SECOND Basically what is wrong in our motoring society is not the engineering of
the streets, intersections, or motor vehicles, but actually the human element
that is .placed behind the wheel of the automobile We know, in fact, that
operators fail to fasten seat belts, drive over the speed limit, fail to stop for
Red Lights and Stop Signs, fail to see vehicles coming from the left and right
and generally operate on the theory that IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN TO ME It is this
human element of either inattention or other human frailty that creates most
automobile and pedestrian accidents
THIRD If every operator obeyed every sign and rule of the road and drove as he
should, the 53,000 traffic deaths in the year 1966, on the highways of the U S.A. ,
would most probably have been cut by at least 95% and there would be no need for
the law enforcement officer
FOURTH With the above in mind, we must remember that the average motorist does
not pay heed to many or most signs on the highway, particularly so when we
erect too many of the same signs For example, if every street in Lexington had
"Caution Children" signs, as many now do, the signs would lose what little effect
they may have had in the areas that should have them
In conclusion, the committee in its professional opinion must point out that,
outside of the psychological effect of a false sense of security given to the
citizen requesting these signs, they have little, if any, real value in the
safety of our children We would also like to point out that over the years
because of public pressure upon local government, we already have erected an
excess of these signs as can be witnessed by any motorist driving on our highways
Even though, in the future, we will continue to give our attention to the citizen
requests for signs, we would rather have each and every citizen drive with the
knowledge that at Liax moment on any street a child could run onto the highway
and we strongly recommend that every mother and father constantly impress upon
their children the importance of traffic safety and that each and every citizen
rely upon his own senses and not upon signs for safety
TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
Albert Gray, Jr , Chairman
James F Corr, Chief of Police
John J Carroll, Town Engineer
Alexander V Zaleski, Planning Director
1967