oe District Safety Coun- in the lumber industry, (uletide Season may be heer, and that the New h, happiness and pros- | Fee gpance those homes where A has brought grief and fir grectings, with deep pave learned that the joy Wy human being is justly qin @ worker's home where ility is destroyed by an qlarned that our coopera- yan enjoyment of life, by accidents. j ey sincerity of our Season's dWselves anew to the great dyry a safe place in which Ys goal, too many of our Eheir lives blighted through wer to prevent. As season, is therefore a Lind brotherhood, which Ike vigorous safety action. VAPPIER YEAR BY Dy A SAFE DAY. thn T. Atkinson, Mistrict Safety Director. d Happy ¢} mainder. — ee FROM OPPOSITE PAGE Vehicle condition About 6 percent of the vehicles involved in fatal accidents had one or more unsafe conditions, according to reports from 26 states. In 94 percent of the cases, the re- ports stated there were no unsafe conditions. About one-third of them reported conditions were unsafe brakes, one-sixth were blowouts and other tire defects, and one-sixth were improperly adjusted ‘or burned out lights. “ All other defects were about one-third of the total. Age of the cars was not stated on the reports, but it is quite likely that many of these unsafe conditions were due to poor or inadequate maintenance of the vehicles. In about one-third of all of the fatal accidents, no informa- tion was given on vehicle condition. Obstruction to vision In nearly 1 out of 8 fatal accidents, the driver’s vision was obscured, according to reports from 21 states. Nearly two-fifths of the obstructions to vision were on the vehicle itself, such as rain, snow or sleet on the windshield. About one-third of the obstruc- tions were trees, buildings and other things‘ along the highway or adjacent to it. Most of the remain- ing one-third were parked and moving cars. Glare from headlights or the sun was reported infrequently, but since &* 18 out of 21 reporting states showed no cases at all under]. this heading, there would seem to be justification for questioning the completeness of reporting this obstruction to vision. 8 | Truck accidents About 2,300,000 trucks were involved in accidents during 1952. Some information on accident circumstances is available from re- ports of contestants in the National Safety Council’s fleet contest for 1951-52. Among common, contract and private carrier fleets having city operations, a study of 1,000 acci- dents ranging in severity from bumped fenders on up showed sideswipe accidents as nearly half of all accidents, rear-end collisions about one-fourth, and right angle col- lisions about one-eighth. The sideswipe accidents occurred principally while the vehicles were going straight ahead and generally while they were passing other vehicles. In the order of fre- * | quency, other vehicle movements in which sideswipe acci- dents occurred were: backing, turning, and pulling from curbs or loading zones. In most backing cases, trucks were backing into loading docks or stations. Of the rear-end collisions, in two-thirds of the cases the contestant’s vehicle struck another vehicle. Almost half of these accidents occurred while the contestant’s vehicle was backing. In those cases where the contestant’s vehicle was struck by another vehicle, the accidents happened chiefly while the contestant’s vehicle was stopped in traffic The next largest number occurred while the contestant’: vehicle was turning, indicating the possibility of sudden : | slow-downs for turns or inadequate signalling. Physical defects of drivers and pedestrians A driver defect was reported by 21 states} S for 1 out of 17 drivers involved in fatal acci- =i, dents. Drivers asleep or fatigued made up ae over three-fifths of these cases. A pedestrian defect was reported for 1 out of 12 pedes- trians killed. Principal defects were: defec- tive hearing in one-sixth of the cases; defective eyesight jn one-eighth, and illness and other defects in the re- 4 SAFE AND HAPPY WEW YEAR TO ALL) Driver violations in fatal accidents, 1952 Reported violations per 100 drivers In both urban and rural areas, excessive speed was the most important driver violation. Nationally, 28 per cent of the drivers in fatal accidents were driving too fast for conditions—traflic, ,weather, road—in which they were _ operating, even though they may not have been exceeding a legal speed limit. In urban areas, right of way violations were second in importance; in rural areas, failing to keep right of the center line was second. : EXCESSIVE SPEED 20) 31 GAT OF WAY 16 6 4 UNDER INFLUENCE ; URBAN 7 oe) RURAL oF AKoHOL 7 22 4 i isECARDED OFFEROR FAILED TO KEEP ROT IMPROPER PASSING 1 TWAFACCONTROL DBE 7 5 or centeR une 3 ‘ fi $ CHER MOUTON 16 R Day-night distribution of deaths, by month Deaths from accidents after sunset increase sharply in the fall-and early winter months, as the hours of greatest traffic volume hecome hours of dark- ness. Both pedestrian and nonpedestrian deaths rise, but the change is pro- portionately greater in pedestrian deaths. ‘The data charted below are for 1949, the latest year for which this detail is available. NONPEDESTRIAN PEDESTRIAN 400 800 NUMBER OF DEATHS 1200 1200 NUMBER OF DEATHS 1600. 2000 ° Estimated mileage death rate by time of day ‘The distribution of urban and rural vehicle mileage by day and night is ‘The death rates per 100,000,000 vehicle miles given below must, therefore, be regarded only as approximations of the 1952 experience. i uno | ee fi uch» a fi uroay : — OY 1 ea] WIGHT 17 16 OCCUPATION: Head Loader EXPERIENCE: Several Years AGE: 32 . DATE: - ‘ At a loading operation, the back tong fouled on a block. is ‘The head loader rode the front tong up to thé boom to free the ong. : . He walked along the boom, slipped and fell 25 feet to a bunk load of logs. He hit on his head and shoulders and was killed. ‘ New Year