8 PARKS 



especially the part having to do with parks and recreation is to increase 

 joy in life; to help people satisfy the instinctive desires whose expression 

 means happiness. There is urgent need for creating in urban life those 

 conditions which will prevent children from growing old before their time, 

 and will keep alive the spirit of childhood in the hearts of men and women. 

 Many agencies are working to make this possible. None, however, have 

 done more to help secure genuine joy in living than those groups working 

 to advance the park and recreation movement whose ideal is well expressed 

 in the motto of Parks and Recreation, the official organ of the American 

 Institute of Park Executives and the American Park Society "To make 

 more abundant facilities for a more expressive life for all." 



PARK AND RECREATION AREAS AS SAFETY MEASURES 



The modern city has developed conditions which make safety to life 

 very difficult. If children do not have space and facilities for play at home 

 or in playgrounds conveniently situated, they will play in streets or in 

 the danger zones of vehicular traffic. Properly located, supervised play- 

 grounds such as those which many park systems are conducting furnish 

 the means whereby children may play in safety. 



A study made by the National Safety Council gives some interesting 

 facts: In a survey of Toledo it was found that out of thirty-two child 

 automobile fatalities during the three years 1922 through 1924, only four 

 occurred within the quarter-mile circle of the playground, and six more 

 in the half-mile circles. In Cleveland, with a very high pedestrian fatality 

 rate, less than thirty per cent of the victims were children. The city has 

 over sixty supervised playgrounds fairly well distributed in proportion to- 

 the population. This low percentage of child fatalities is in marked con- 

 trast with the high percentage in some other communities where there 

 are fewer playgrounds. In Hudson County, N. J., where there is a limited 

 number of playgrounds, eighty-five of the one hundred and sixty-five 

 pedestrians killed during 1923-24 were children under fifteen years of 

 age. In Richmond, Va., with a high number of playgrounds in proportion 

 to the population, child automobile fatalities were less than twenty-five 

 per cent of the total number in which pedestrians were involved. Only 

 twelve children were killed by automobiles during the three year period 

 ending December 31, 1924. 



The Department of Recreation of Detroit (in 1926) made a study of 

 playgrounds as safety agencies. Two spot maps were made, one show- 

 ing the location of fatal accidents from September I, 1925 to July I, 1926, 

 the period during which the playgrounds were not opened. The second 

 map contained the fatal accidents from July I, 1926 to September I, 1926,, 



