Message to Regional Conferences of the President's Committee for Traffic Safety.

[ Recorded on film and tape ]

FIRST, I WANT TO EXPRESS my personal appreciation to each of you for attending this Conference. You are all taking valuable time from crowded personal schedules. You have come at your own expense. You have done so because you feel a most commendable sense of responsibility for the always urgent business of Highway Traffic Safety.

Second, I am delighted to see that progress is being made in the fine work you are doing. The National Safety Council reports a saving of 1,100 lives and the lowest mileage death rate in the nation's history in 1957. This is the kind of news we all like to hear.

It proves that something can and is being done to overcome the terrible march of death, personal injury and billions of dollars in property damage on our public roads.

Those in charge of the program for this Conference advise me that you are convened for two primary purposes: first, to bring you up to date on the very latest traffic safety needs. Second, to enlist your leadership in developing the widest possible support for the action programs required to meet these needs. Every year, inventories are made of the traffic-control activities of all the States and cities of the Nation. The most recent inventories show that the average safety performance of all the 48 States has reached only 58 percent of the minimum standards-that is, the States have applied only about half of the basic traffic-safety program. The performance of cities is reported as no better.

If this record is to be improved, every State, county, and local official with responsibility for traffic control must have organized citizen support. This is why you as leaders in your States and communities have been asked to attend this Conference.

So, my plea to you is: give your support in making certain that your safety needs are met as promptly as possible. More importantly, give the leadership that is indispensable if public support is to be effective.

Action is the answer. Cooperation is the means. I am confident you'll give an excellent account of yourselves and the results will be most rewarding.