Bad Roads Cause Accidents.
—It is not always the fault of the driver or the vehicle that there is an accident. The roads may be at fault, and while careful driving may decrease the number it can not eliminate all.
Slipperiness is hard to combat. This will vary of course with the types of road, with grades, and with height of crowns. But even a pavement, which in dry weather is perfectly safe, will, when it becomes moist, especially if there is a small amount of dust or clay on it, be extremely slippery. Earth roads when they are wet on top and hard below are very treacherous. All types become slippery in the winter when there is ice and snow. A thorough flushing of pavements, which will remove surplus dust and clay, preferably done at night, is a good remedy for slipperiness. The use of sand or cinders on turns is sometimes resorted to where absolute cleanliness can not be obtained by flushing. Extra precautions by the drivers over the slippery roads and streets is always a good thing. The investigations of the Maryland Highway Commission indicate that about 20 per cent of all the accidents can be attributed to wet and slippery roads.
In the construction of roads high crowns should be avoided. On earth roads the crowns should never exceed one inch per foot and if the road is one that is much used and carefully maintained so that it is hard, should be about one-half inch per foot. A crown of one inch to the foot is equivalent to an 81⁄3 per cent grade down which vehicles will easily run and off which they will slide in slippery weather. Vehicles seek the center of the road when the crown is high both for comfort and safety but two passing vehicles can not be there at the same time. On hard pavements a quarter of an inch per foot will furnish ample drainage, and that is all the crown is for anyway.