Social Research

Abstract

THE leading article on “Road Traffic Research” in NATURE of April 13 directs attention once again to the need for scientific research into social problems, for which I contended in my communication in NATURE of December 9 (p. 898). The present very unsatisfactory condition of road traffic is but another instance of Government action in a matter of which those responsible have an inadequate knowledge. As is stated in NATURE of April 13, “The tragic position of the road traffic problem at the moment and the sterility of all attempts to diminish accidents, whether by motor control, registration, insuring, licensing or deterrent enactments, are due primarily to the omission to base legislation on scientific experiments and definite facts. In the absence of such study, well-intentioned legislation is apt to have consequences and repercussions widely different from or even opposed to those for which it was designed”.