Progress

U.S. motorists massacred one another over the Christmas weekend: 523 Americans died in auto accidents during the 78 hours between 6 p.m. Friday and Christmas midnight; a projection of the injured who might yet die put the total at nearly 700. It was the highest highway toll for the three-day holiday weekend since the "Black Christmas" of 1955, when 609 were killed and 201 of the injured died later. In 1961, as always, the first few hours of the weekend were the deadliest as the gin-glazed celebrators motored unsteadily home from office Christmas parties.

In Chicago, the National Safety Council said things were not quite so bad as they seemed, since more motorists are driving more vehicles a greater number of miles each year. Said a spokesman: "The most noticeable trend in motor vehicle accidents is that, while the number of deaths remains generally constant, the fatalities per million miles of travel are slowly dropping. In 1955 the rate of fatalities per million miles of travel was 6.4. This year that rate will have dropped to 5.1. People are making progress."

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