WW2 UK Car Crashes Vs Blitz Bombs

[GNC]

Mythconceptions in FT 371 asks whether it's a myth that more Brits died in car crashes during the WW2 blackout than were killed by Nazi bombs, basically because they couldn't see where they were driving. I'm not sure - there can't have been as many cars on the roads, for a start. Any ideas?

 

[EnolaGaia]

Mythconceptions in FT 371 asks whether it's a myth that more Brits died in car crashes during the WW2 blackout than were killed by Nazi bombs, basically because they couldn't see where they were driving. I'm not sure - there can't have been as many cars on the roads, for a start. Any ideas?

It depends on how you define the WW2-era timeframe, because you'll have to sum the individual years' road casualties data.

UK road fatalities peaked (for all time) in 1941 (9,169 killed). Depending on how many years you include on either side of 1941, you might add up a total similar to or exceeding the 40,000 - 43,000 estimated to have died as a result of the Blitz.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reported_Road_Casualties_Great_Britain

 

[GNC]

So it's about the same? I suppose you could massage the figures either way. In any case, almost ten thousand people killed on the roads at a time when there weren't anywhere near as many cars does demonstrate the current value of health and safety.

On the other hand, 1941 was the height of the blackout, so maybe it's true.

 

[EnolaGaia]

So it's about the same? ...

If the comparison is to the Blitz alone (mass bombings of UK cities; 1940 - 1941), the answer is 'No'. The 9000-some road casualties in 1941 plus the lower figure from 1940 would add up to less than half of the minimum 40,000 fatalities attributed to the Blitz during those two years.

If, on the other hand, one were to compare domestic bombing casualties to all UK road fatalities over the entire course of the war, there's a chance the total road casualties could equal or exceed the total Blitz casualties.

Could the total road casualties equal or exceed total British wartime fatalities from German bombing (above and beyond the Blitz alone)? It's not likely, because the official figure for overall British fatalities from German bombing is 60,595. See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strat...orld_War_II#Allied_bombing_statistics_1939–45

 

[Yithian]

Anecdotal:

Use of the phrase 'Car crashes' in this dubious yarn makes one think of car on car incidents, but there's another strand. I've read a number of RAF memoirs by fighter and bomber command men (not much from the cinderella command) and if there's one type of story that crops up time and time again it's the accident on a country lane at night involving a bicycle and a car with no headlamps on [Edit: See GNC's post below]. A contributing factor is often a degree of inebriation of the servicemen (driver or rider) involved.

They invariably end with one or more of the following:

a) a death or long hospitalisation;

b) either an argument with a constable or arrest and appearance before a draconian or sympathetic J.P. (a heavy fine Vs a wink and a slap on the wrist);

c) a summons to meet the station commander without coffee while hungover the following day.

Bicycles are almost silent when you're behind the wheel.

 

[GNC]

The thing was, vehicles during blackouts didn't drive without headlamps (or weren't supposed to), they had special "filters" on the lamps to create a slit of light that would not be as clear from the air. So there was nobody who should have been driving "blind", as it were.

 

[Yithian]

The thing was, vehicles during blackouts didn't drive without headlamps (or weren't supposed to), they had special "filters" on the lamps to create a slit of light that would not be as clear from the air. So there was nobody who should have been driving "blind", as it were.

Extensive detail on specifics here:
http://www.aj-wilkinson.co.uk/blackout.html

 

[GNC]

Extensive detail on specifics here:
http://www.aj-wilkinson.co.uk/blackout.html

Yes, there you go.

 

[Yithian]

Yes, there you go.

I clearly misremembered the detail, but the crashes were still real.

 

[GNC]

I clearly misremembered the detail, but the crashes were still real.

Oh, I'm not disputing there were crashes, just that nobody could see a thing on the roads during the blackout. Presumably bicycle lamps were fitted similarly?

 

[Yithian]

Not sure, but we're also talking about regular street lighting being turned off.

I read somewhere or other that the number of drownings and deaths by falling increased in concomitance with the additional road accidents as people simply made more mistakes when they couldn't see so well. It needn't be absolute darkness for miscalculation--especially when short-sightedness is taken into account.

 

[escargot]

Oh, I'm not disputing there were crashes, just that nobody could see a thing on the roads during the blackout. Presumably bicycle lamps were fitted similarly?

I've read that bike lamps were 'masked' to stop them being seen from above. Made them difficult to see by.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I've read that bike lamps were 'masked' to stop them being seen from above. Made them difficult to see by.

Brown parcel tape.