Statement on Street and Highway Traffic Safety.

President Herbert Hoover
April 23, 1930

THE PRESIDENT said:

"We are confronted with a great and increasingly serious problem in our street and highway traffic. The accident rate has mounted steadily despite the measures adopted as the result of previous conferences. Without those efforts the situation would be worse but the steadily increasing congestion of traffic has outrun all measures of safety.

"This is entirely a matter within the responsibility of State and local authorities. The Federal Government has lent its facilities and assistance by calling the National Conferences on Street and Highway Safety with view to securing a spread of information and coordination in activities.

"The Governors of all the States and mayors of the principal cities and towns have accepted my invitation to send official delegations to a third National Conference 1 to be held in Washington, May 27, 28, and 29th. There will also be representation of national associations and groups specially interested in traffic matters.

1 As Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Hoover helped organize and chaired the first two conferences which met in 1924 and 1926.

"It is an encouraging fact that the representatives of the national associations of motor manufacturers, motor car users, businessmen, safety associations, and others concerned with various phases of motor traffic have pledged their efforts in support of the Conference and in aiding the State and local authorities in dealing with these problems which are of such far-reaching humanitarian and economic importance."

Note: The White House released the statement following the President's meeting with the heads of a number of national associations concerned with the street and highway traffic safety problem. The discussion centered on the role these organizations could take in the Third National Conference on Street and Highway Safety.

On the same day, the White House released the following list of those attending the meeting with the President:
ROBERT P. LAMONT, Secretary of Commerce and Chairman of the Conference on Street and Highway Safety
WILLIAM BUTTERWORTH, president, Chamber of Commerce of the United States
ALVAN MACAULEY, president, National Automobile Chamber of Commerce
THOMAS P. HENRY, president, American Automobile Association
R. H. AISHTON, president, American Railway Association
JAMES P. BARNES, American Electric Railway Association
W. W. CLOUD, president, National Association of Taxicab Owners
C. E. PETTIBONE, president, National Safety Council
J. M. EATON, American Mutual Alliance
A. W. WHITNEY, National Bureau of Casualty and Surety Underwriters
A. V. HALL, Motor and Equipment Association

Members of the Conference Executive Committee

WILLIAM E. METZGER
CHARLES GORDON
JULIUS H. PARMELEE
A. B. BARBERJOHN C. LONG
A. W. KOCHLER