ADDRESS, WHEELMASTER BANQUET
BALTIMORE

May 2, 1961

Another year has rolled around since the last Wheelmaster Banquet,
and perhaps we should ask ourselves the question: What have we done
during the past twelve months in Maryland to make our streets and
highways safer?

Reports I have received from our Commissioner of Motor Vehicles
show that last year the number of motor vehicles registered in our
State increased by approximately six per cent. And from all the infor-
mation I can gather, it would appear that we may expect heavier
increases each year in the number of vehicles in operation on our
highways.

This can mean only one thing to those of us who are disturbed by the
daily disaster of automobile accidents. It means we will have to
strengthen our traffic safety efforts if we expect to achieve a decent
safety record in the State. It means that we will have to build highways
faster than we have ever built them before, knowing that good highway
engineering is one of the most valuable of our safety instruments. It
means we will have to accelerate our program of safety education and
promotion, acknowledging that, despite the frightfull toll of life and
limb and destruction of property in highway accidents, traffic safety is
yet one of the hardest lessons to teach. It means we *ill have to renew
our endeavor to improve law enforcement, for the presence of traffic
patrolmen on our roads is still one of the strongest deterrents to the
recklessness which causes automobile mishaps. The "three E's, " they
are called by our safety experts—engineering, education, enforcement.
Whatever measure of success we may attain in our objective will depend
upon how wisely we use these resources.

The Maryland Traffic Safety Commission... keeps me informed about
traffic safety conditions in Maryland by supplying me with a variety of
accident statistics. It is possible for us to become extremely disheartened
when we examine these figures as they accumulate from day to day, week
to week, month to month. Fortunately this year, we have seen some
improvement, although certainly not improvement enough to give us any
great satisfaction. As of last Friday—the last date for which I have re-
ceived figures—103 persons had lost their lives in highway accidents
occurring in Maryland. In comparison with the figures for the same
period of last year, that is a reduction of 72 deaths.

557