The front page of the December 3, 1922, edition of The Brooklyn Citizen newspaper was dedicated to the increasing number of automobile-related deaths. The creepy and superbly effective graphic shown above was centered under the following dramatic headline:
The Fish referred to was Lawrence C. Fish, a Brooklyn Traffic Court judge. According to Fish, the number of automobile deaths nationwide had increased from fewer than 400 in 1906 to 11,024 in 1921. Fish blamed incompetent and intoxicated drivers, speeding, defective brakes, and the fact that American traffic regulations had not kept up with the phenomenal increase in the number of automobiles on the roads. The judge also explained that pedestrians were often at fault by simply not looking both ways when crossing the street.
In another sign of the times, the paper also proclaimed that automobiles killed more Americans than typhoid, malaria, and smallpox combined:
This graphic from the same page shows the number of fatal automobile accidents in each state during 1921. California had the greatest number of fatalities per 100,000 population at 24.1; Mississippi was lowest with 2.7 per 100,000.
Judge Fish was not wrong about pedestrian deaths being a significant problem. In June of 1925, there were 150 deaths involving automobiles in the state of New York, and 96 of them were pedestrians. Of those 96, 59 were children under the age of 15. In an attempt to address the problem, the school system distributed brochures and implemented safety lessons to educate children on the dangers of playing in and crossing streets.
Other attempts to save lives included inventions like the Pohlig Automatic Fender, a device intended to prevent accident victims from rolling under the wheels of a car or truck. Manufactured by the Peelle Company, a maker of safety devices in Brooklyn, the Pohlig Automatic Fender had a horizontal trip bar located an inch or two in front of the fender that, in theory, would cause the fender to automatically drop to the ground when a person was struck, thereby preventing the person from being crushed beneath the wheels. This view shows the trip bar:
These photos show the fender in the up and down positions:
This disturbing demonstration was included in advertisements:
The Pohlig Automatic Fender was only advertised for a couple of years, and there is no record of the number put into use. One hundred years later, pedestrian deaths continue to account for more than half of traffic deaths in New York City, although the number has been decreasing since the implementation of Vision Zero, a program which aims to eliminate traffic deaths and injuries.
On a side note, I recently found a small connection to this period of New York in an antique store in Lincoln, Nebraska. One side of this leather key case is embossed with the name and address of a car dealership:
A search of the address revealed that there is exactly one “125 West End Avenue” in the entire country, and it is in New York City. While this leather case likely dates to the 1960s, the building at this address was originally built for Chrysler in 1929.
More recently, it was the home of ABC/Walt Disney. There was apparently talk of tearing it down but, thankfully, it was instead renovated and now houses some sort of research facility. I could find no mention of the dealer on the key case, “C and A Auto Sales,” anywhere, so it was likely a small and short-lived business, leaving behind the mystery of how this pocket-sized piece of advertising ended up in the middle of Nebraska.