‘UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED The Designed-in Dangers of the Am- erican Automobile, by Ralph Nader. Grossman Publishers, New York. $5.95 (U.S.). Here is a book that pro- vides ideal supporting evi- dence for all those who have been campaigning for safe cars and safe driving. These two go together. What this book proves is that motorists should not be saddled with all the blame for auto accidents. The evidence points to unsafe ears and unsafe tires. The big car manufacturers THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER DONNER: That is correct. KENNEDY: And you spent $1 million on this (safety re- search) ? DONNER: On this particu- lar facet we are talking about. KENNEDY: If you gave 1 per cent of your profits, that is $17 million. Regarding tires, one investi- gation heard a tire dealer say, “You are right — many mot- orists are riding on a time bomb,” while a tire manu- DON’T TRUST ANY AUTOMOBILE TIRE. Safety engi- neers claim some new cars are overloaded when empty and the tire and automobile manufacturers admit that un- less tires on new cars are specially inflated, the maximum carrying capacity is three passengers. are entirely wrapped up in auto sales and their corporate image. Auto safety is some- thing they choose to ignore. Take this excerpt from a hearing on the vehicle safety issue with Senator Robert F. Kennedy questioning Fred- eric Donner, chairman, and James Roche, president, of General Motors (reference had just been made to an in- vestigation by a Dr. Donald Huelke into 114 fatal acci- dents): KENNEDY: What was the profit of General Motors last year? ROCHE: I don’t think that has anything to do —— KENNEDY: I think I am entitled to know that figure _.,. You spend a million and a quarter dollars, as I under- stand it, on this aspect of safety. I would like to know what the profit is. - DONNER: The one. aspect we are talking about is safety. KENNEDY: What was the profit of General Motors last year? ; ROCHE: $1,700,000,000. KENNEDY: What? DONNER: About a billion and a half, I think... KENNEDY: You made $1.7 billion last year? facturer admitted to another hearing, “Over the _ years, vehicle manufacturers, in an attempt to cut costs, have cut down the amount of tire they are designing onto their veh- icles, and some vehicles are overloaded when they are empty.” But the auto:industry is a powerful sector of the econ- omy with automobile produc- tion using “21% of all steel, 49% of all lead, 61% of all rubber, 32% of all zinc, 13% of all aluminum and 58% of all upholstery leather sold in the country.” “Automobile spokesmen never fail to cite these figures whenever they want some- thing from government, or want to block government action.” What is the answer? Says Nader, “Only the Federal Government can undertake the critical task of stimulat- ing and guiding public and private initiative for safety . . The decision . . . ought not to be left to the manufactur- ers, regardless of their per- formance. But the extraord- inary low quality of that performance certainly ac- centuates the urgent need for publicly defined and enforced standards of safety.” What are we doing in Can- ada? Here is an excerpt from material prepared by the CLC’s PEC Department in the current campaign for auto compensation Boards across Canada: “It is estimated that the overall total economic cost to Canadians in car accidents in 1964 was $4 billion. This ex- ceeds by far the total farm production of all of Canada in the same year. Yet, although the government of Canada is able to spend $250,000 on an anti - smoking campaign in Canada, their contribution to the safety campaign for 1965 was $25,000.” Isn’t it time that someone in parliament demanded more action on auto safety in this country ?—M.L. . 49,000 DIED “President Johnson said in a statement that the grav- est problem facing the na- tion — next to the war in Viet Nam — ‘is the shocking and senseless carnage’ that took 49,000 lives last year, maimed and injured 3.5 mil- lion. It cost an estimated $8 billion. “Senator Kennedy in a speech placed much of the blame for this bloodletting on the automobile industry itself... “