The incidence of motor vehicle accidents, with the heavy toll they
take in human lives, in maimings and in the destruction of property,
undoubtedly is one of the most serious of the domestic problems we
face in this country today. The sad and frustrating part of it is that
not only does there appear to be no immediate solution to the
problem, but that there is every indication that it is becoming more
acute with every day that passes. We are indeed a nation on rubber-
tired wheels—a people which, both through necessity and inclination,
spends more and more of its time in automobiles.

The increase in the number of automobiles, and in the number of
miles they travel, has been nothing short of phenomenal in this country,
especially since the end of World War II. In Maryland, for example,
there were registered 1, 290, 428 motor vehicles last year. I am told that
by a conservative estimate there will be approximately 1, 355, 000 this
year. To get a fair picture of what is happening, compare these
registration figures with the figure of 1, 226, 427 of 1961 and 794, 635
for ten years ago.

Only a few years ago, it was unusual for an average family to possess
more than one automobile. Now it is a very common thing. And it
is not an unusual thing, as we all know very well, for a single family to
possess three or four cars. Incidentally, I noted with a great deal
of interest the other day that one Maryland county—Montgomery
County—had more three-car families than any other county in the
United States. And of course, these cars are traveling more than ever
before. I can remember, and perhaps many of you here can remember,
when a 30-mile trip was a human ordeal, with tire blowouts, break-
downs and an almost endless variety of mishaps that tended to dis-
courage motor travel. Not so today, to be sure. We think nothing

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