CAUSE AND PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS 505 



sary chances, we must necessarily class them as criminals of a 

 certain type, since they not only endanger their own lives but 

 often the lives of many innocent persons. 



People will cross the street in the middle of a block, or they 

 will take a chance on escaping injury by crossing a street against 

 traffic and against the policeman's signal for closed traffic. An 

 automobile driver may try to get ahead of a train at a crossing when 

 the time saved would probably amount to only a fraction of a minute. 

 He may not succeed and terrible consequences follow. 



FIG. 387. The man who tells the driver to " Let her go," is bidding for a 

 place in a long black procession. This man is a menace to the commu- 

 nity, for he cares nothing for others' safety. 



Caution should not be confounded with fear, and the exercise 

 of caution, the habit of consideration of " Safety First," need in no 

 manner interfere with work or recreation. There is no rational thing 

 which we desire to do that cannot be done in a manner consistent 

 with the thought of " Safety First." 



Hurry. One must not think that speed means hurry. The for- 

 mer is necessary and desirable, but the latter is unnecessary, unde- 

 sirable, and unworthy of a person who organizes his activities so 

 as to obtain the greatest efficiency in the quickest time possible. 



Hurried minds and bodies are not at their best. Nothing done 

 hurriedly is ever done as well as it could have been done. There is 



