Our Dangerous Streets

The "100 Deathless Days" of 1939 may have been a failure but that didn't stop Vancouver from trying again. In 1955, it was for "80 Deathless Days" in response to the "80 Dark Days of Danger". (This refers to the dangers caused by shorter winter days)

In this campaign, the old people got the blame. After all, they were out at night, in the dark, wearing drab coloured clothing, which made it difficult for motorists to see them.


If the city’s seniors refused to remain in the safety of their homes, the Sun suggested they should at least ask themselves “Is this journey necessary?” before venturing out onto the dark, treacherous streets.

The "80 Deathless Days" campaign was also a failure. In 1960, a reporter for the Vancouver Sun reported Trail, BC hadn't had a single traffic fatality in five years but Vancouver had only managed 54 consecutive days death free in the same time period.

What made the streets of Vancouver so dangerous? After the 1939 campaign, the head of the Traffic Safety Council said the problem was with the pedestrians. Motorists were perfectly cooperative during the campaign, but as for pedestrians, he said, “there was no evidence of any co-operation whatsoever.”

Perhaps it was the way the campaign was presented to the public. The Sun used "traffic morality", a "moral panic" formula. This was the traditional way Vancouverites were motivated to do things as with the campaigns to crack down on drugs.

Victoria, on the other hand, took a different approach. They were demonstrating a "traffic conscience" with a more ambitious campaign of "Accident Free Weeks".  While Vancouver was “half-heartedly pretending not to KILL people,” wrote the Sun, “Victoria is determined not to HURT people.”

These campaigns weren't unique to Vancouver. Providence, Rhode Island had a similar problem and they virtually eliminated traffic deaths by lowering the speed limit to 25 miles an hour. Looking back, these campaigns seem to signify when larger amounts of traffic deaths are accepted as the cost of this mode of transportation.

Car manufacturers have made their vehicles safer for both pedestrian and driver. Unfortunately, advancements like more powerful engines being operated by inexperienced drivers or drivers (and pedestrians) distracted by cell phones and such have increased the hazards of the road.

This information is from the Past Tense Vancouver website.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Is 100 Deathless Days Impossible?

All photos of these car accidents are from the Vancouver Public Library online.

Item 40961. Taken for the Province newspaper in the 1930s. Shows a car on the beach and Lion's Gate Bridge in the background.

Leon Holt took this photo for the Province newspaper October 9, 1951. Item 68054.

February 21, 1950 item 81153. This accident occurred at Burrard Street and West 4th Avenue.

Another shot of the same accident. Photos taken by Artray. Item 81153A

The campaign for "100 Deathless Days" in Vancouver was still running. The Vancouver Sun was not going to give up that easily. After Mildred Graham died of her injuries on July 14, 1939, the campaign started for a fourth time.

On July 15, 65-year-old Edward Luff was run over on Hastings Street but the Sun said that one didn't count. Luff was killed by a streetcar, not a private auto mobile.  At the corner of Keefer and Hawk, a nine-year-old cyclist was struck by a car but he survived. When 15-year-old Billy McDonald was thrown from his bike on Gravelly Street a few days later and killed, it was described as a freak accident instead of a traffic death and had no bearing on the campaign.

Item 81153b - same as above.

Artray took this photo - 84809- of an exclusive ambulance accident at Main and Kingsway in 1948.

84809a. Same credits as above

84809b. Same credits as the previous two.

On July 19, 50-year-old William Hanna crashed his car into a bus at the corner of Granville and 54th Avenue. He died and the campaign started for a fourth time. The editorial in the Sun the next day wasn't as impassioned as previous ones. The editor simply warned people to be careful and gave tips on safety. At least the campaign was getting Vancouverites to think about road safety. Or so the paper said.

After the police department was denied the funding to increase its traffic squad with special constables, Chief Foster called for 500 citizens to voluntarily monitor traffic violations. 175 volunteers stepped up. Their job was to spot the violations and then submit reports to the Chief. The Chief would then send a letter to the lawbreakers telling them to stop violating the law. In August of 1939, 530 violations were reported but there is no way of knowing if a letter with no legal repercussions influenced the drivers to change their errant ways.

Atray took this photo in the 1940s of a Fairview streetcar, which hit the Granville Span. Item 84813

Again in the 1940s and again the photographer is Artray. This streetcar accident is at the corner of Powell and Commercial. Item 84814.

84823 was taken on May 15, 1948 by Artray. This shows a car, which had been knocked 50 feet by trams at 30th and Boulevard.

March 1, 1948. Artray took 84825 of an overturned car at 1300 block Broughton.

74-year-old J. McDevitt was run over by a motorcycle at the corner of Seymour and Smythe causing the campaign to start for a fifth time. August 1939 was a month free of traffic fatalities! Perhaps Vancouverites were improving their driving skills?

The campaign quietly disappeared in September due to a more newsworthy event taking over the paper's pages - the start of the Second World War. Another interpretation was that the campaign organizers realized they were asking too much of Vancouver motorists to not “occasionally hurtle another car off the highway or destroy a pedestrian wearing an offensively-hued shirt.”

Naturally, the unsuccessful campaign pleased the Winnipeg Tribune, who had been so insulted by prairie drivers getting the blame for accidents in BC. That paper stated: “It was not on account of deaths due to careless driving by the many prairie motorists then in Vancouver, but as a result of the inability of local talent to suppress their homicidal tendencies, that the campaign ended so ignomiously.”

84825a: same as above.

84825b. Same as before.

Ray Munro took item 84829 on April 3, 1948. This is an accident between a truck and a car on the Burrard span.

84829a. And here's the car.

I'm not quite finished the story of the '100 Deathless Days' campaign. Friday, I will tell you more. I would like to thank Past Tense Vancouver for the information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Artray was on hand to capture this photo of a streetcar overturned at 4th and Sasamata in 1948. Item 84841.

Art Jones is the photographer to capture this 1947 scene of a car, which plowed through a truck. Item 84842

A 1947 traffic accident at the ferry wharf. Sadly, two drowned. Photographer, Art Jones. Item 84843

Art Jones took this photo on March 6, 1949 of a car smashed at Lost Lagoon. Item 84871.

Prairie versus Coast

Today, we are travelling back to 1939. In an editorial in The Vancouver Sun newspaper, prairie drivers were blamed for the large number of traffic accidents on the Big Bend Highway near Revelstoke.

“Travelling to Vancouver they have the outside of the road, theoretically,” wrote the Sun. “But in practice most of them take the middle or hug the inside. It’s the mental hazard that gets them after years of travel on the broad prairie.”

Naturally, this ruffled some feathers on those from the prairie provinces. The Winnipeg Tribune answered Manitoba drivers on BC highways “are being pushed into the ditch by erratic coast drivers.”

Winnipeg also had 288 days without a fatality due to traffic accidents despite being “over-run with goofy pedestrians who ignore all safety rules about crossing the street.”

This was perceived as a challenge to BC drivers so the Sun, in conjunction with the Traffic Safety Council, launched "100 Deathless Days". This campaign, which began on July 1, 1939, was to have drivers extra cautious so the city could go 100 days without a traffic related fatality.

On July 3, the campaign seemed to be working. The motorists of Vancouver had managed to go through a holiday weekend with only minor injuries. The organizers congratulated themselves. Perhaps this wouldn't be as difficult as first thought. Mayor Telford was ready to dedicate a sign installed at Granville and Georgia to countdown the number of deathless days.

The rejoicing was short lived. Later that same day, July 3, 55-year-old Thomas Hatley was fatally hit by a car at Main and Station Streets. The Sun stated “orgy of lawbreaking” on the city’s streets were committed by a small percentage of motorists - roughly 2% - and those licences ought to be revoked. In other words, it is a law enforcement problem.

The campaign started again but in a week, on July 10, Mildred Graham lay on her deathbed after a traffic accident. The paper's optimism for this campaign was diminishing. “We might just as well have started out on a mass rocket flight to the moon,” mused the Sun, (This was 30 years before humans sent rockets to the moon.)

Even though it wasn't the fault of the police, Chief Constable Foster said he would instruct the entire police force to enforce traffic laws, not just the Traffic squad.

It wasn't the fault of the pedestrians either. At least not according to the Sun. Yeah, pedestrians do stupid things yet “so long as motorists go on assuming that the pedestrian has no rights, we might as well pack our Deathless Days Campaign away in mothballs with the New Year’s Resolutions and admit we don’t want to save lives.” Unless Vancouver drivers adjusted their attitudes, we might as well “admit that we haven’t got what it takes to stop killing people” and should just accept that Vancouverites are simply of “weaker moral fibre” than Winnipeggers.

So did Vancouver make the '100 Deathless Days'? I'll tell you more on Wednesday.

Thanks to Past Tense Vancouver for the information on this entry.

I hope you find the beauty around you.