How SAFE ARE

- OUR CARS?

By MAX STEINBOCK ~

VERY year more than 40,000
Americans die in motor
vehicle accidents. All kinds

of reasons are presented for this
appallingly high figure: the as-
tronomical number of miles driv-
en yearly; the 80 million cars
on the road; the inability of
many drivers to cope with em-
ergencies; the growth of free-
ways and expressways where
traffic moves at such a speed
that accidents usually mean
fatalities.

But these arguments are no
real answer. It’s all too easy to
say “accidents will happen” —
and let it go at that.

Must accidents happen? How
can traffic deaths be cut down?

Obviously there is no easy
answer to these questions. Ac-

‘cidents will happen — no mat- .

ter how much safety education,
driver training and other pre-
“cautions are instilled into peo-
ple. All of these precautions
must be continued. But along
with them goes another: mak-
ing cars safer.

Are our cars as safe as hu-
man ingenuity and skill can
make them? Not by a long shot,
according to experts. Consu-

. mers Union, a respected consu-

mer organization which pub-
lishes “Consumer Reports,” says
flatly:

“There are no safe cars. But
if that is true it is also true that
all cars could be made signific-
antly safer than they are now.
There is not a single car pro-
duced whose safety could not
be improved to some extent,
and without the expenditure of
a single extra cent. Indeed,
some steps in the direction of
greater safety would probably
save money.”

As an example, CU listed nine
obvious hazards found in pres-
ent-day cars: sharp-edged, un-
padded dash ledge; dangerous
switch knobs on dash; sharp-
edged glove compartment door;
sharp-cornered ash tray; rigid
mirror mount; horn buttons in
spokes; sharp-edged front seat
back; headlights invisible from
side; and tail-lights invisible

- from side.

The experimental Italian car, Pininfarina’s Sigma PF, was de-
signed from scratch with passenger safety as primary aim. Top draw-
ing shows passenger compartment {in black) is a rigid, strong shell.
Bottom drawing shows how impact of either front or rear end collision
would be absorbed by crumpling of body before impact reaches rein-
forced passénger compartment. Engine would be directed downward
en impact, instead of into passengers’ laps; high position of steering
shaft anet gear box protects driver.

Where does your food dollar go?

Where does the food dollar
go?

That’s what many families,
poring over their weekly budget
figures, would like to know?

Mar specialists in the
United = es recently decided
to find @w&y- They chose Greens-

boro, NG, (because it’s “statis-
tically * al”) and shopped for
90 food? s in different gro-
cery sté@ies, basing themselves

en a méderate-cost food plan
which the believe most fami-

lies usé,
“tees

=

Here’s what they found:

About 40 percent ($13) of.

food money went for meat,
poultry, fish and eggs. This in-
cluded some steak, roasts and
ground beef- as well as pork
chops, bacon, franks, luncheon
meats, chicken and fish.

Vegetables and fruit were the
next biggest item on the fam-
ily’s food bill. They added an-
other 23 percent or, more pre-
cisely, $7.38.

Milk, cheese, ice cream aad
other dairy products totalled

The most popular American
makes were then checked for
these hazards. The fewest found
on any make were four, most
had more and several had as
many as eight.

CU points out that “‘there is
not a single company in which
the development and applica-
tion of engineering knowledge
to safety is the major undertak-
ing, in terms of staff assigned
to it or money spent on it, that
it needs to be.”

An indication of the growing
concern felt by many Americans
over the need for more safety
features in cars can be found in
a recent action taken by the
U.S. General Services Adminis-
tration. Cars bought by the U.S.
government will, in the future,
have to meet a set of minimum
safety standards.

These first standards are far
from complete, says the article
in “Consumer Reports.” One
important omission is the fail-
ure to establish standards for
handling quality and stability.

Some of the features pro-
posed by the GSA are already
available as optional equipment
on some automobiles. The stand-
ards have requirements for:

Padded dash and visors.

Recessed instruments and con-
trols on the instrument panel.

Impact-absorbing steering
wheel and steering column.

Safety door latches
hinges.

Anchorage for seat belt as-
semblers.

Anchorage of seats.

Dual brake system.

Standard gear quadrant.

Safety glass.

Glare-reduction surfaces on
the instrument panel and wind-
shield. wipers.

Tires and safety rims.

Exhaust emission control sys-
tem to limit the amount of air-
polluting elements emitted from
the tail pipe.

Windshield wipers and wash-
ers.

and

$5.57.

Flour, cereals and baked
goods came to $3.43.

Foods like margarine, butter
and salad dressing cost 89 cents.
Sugar, marmalade or jellies and
dessert mixes added 80 cents to
the bill.

The remaining $1.04 was for
coffee, soft drinks, seasonings
and the like.

The total bill was $32.11. The
specialists said it covered food
needs of the typical family of
four for one week.

Standard bumper height.

Four-way flasher that will
flash all signal lights together
to warn of a hazard.

Backup lights.
Outside rear-view mirror.

At a time when billions are
being spent to send man safely
to the moon and back, it doesn’t ~
seem to be asking too much to
spend a few millions to keep
man: safe here at home. Cornell
University and Liberty Mutual
Insurance Co. have been con-
ducting that kind of research

into car safety for S&Y
More recently an.
body manufacturel,
has built an exper
which embodies ™
features.

However, thesé
scratch ‘the surface
~ needed is governm
lation that will co!
tion of safety feat
nate present hazah™ iy
reduce the carnage (lms

ways. (Abri dged
Rwpsv

J. . Wallace

The Indian is meticulous

In squaring off his. debts

So soon as we gave him syphilis
He gave us cigarettes.

T HAS just come to me that you can cause 4 com
by divorcing respectable words. Here are two @

I don’t know if you can find more:
Lighthouse — light house.
Housekeeper — house keeper.

I made this world-shaking discovery when 1 8°17
ing of Polly Adler. I never read her life story anet
herself, but at a guess I would say she justifie if
pation by the usual arguments: a girl has to live,
do it others will; after all, what difference is thé

ciple between my way of making money and, Say!
ed tht

a millionaire newspaper publisher?

If that was her defense she certainly stumP'
lionaire publishers.
eat

Pass up for the moment the way they tr zi
ployees and the way they twist the news, pu eal
news, suppress news or treat it like I have tH
words lighthouse and housekeeper. Turn to thei!
and, as one example, you'll find them running
umns on astrology — when every informed Tr
that it is an absolute swindle, discredited fo
turn to their advertising columns — the wa
tise frauds and killers like cigarettes ...

Probably they take a Polly Adler style of defer
like W. C. McDonald, founder of the tobacco coy (96
bears his name. He felt smoking was a filthy ang
ing habit; but not the money he made from it.

Turn to the Imperial Tobacco Co. For deca ‘
vertised Sweet Caporal cigarettes with the a
purest form in which tobacco can be smoked ~
After 20 years or so I got fed up with this SW) oP
ment, wrote The Lancet .. . this slogan was d

lie replaced by scores of others. ;

(Don’t think I’m grouchy; it’s a lovely aay rt
that way and hope I am sharing it with you: wet?
what are the words to Where Have All the Fin
I heard this song sung some months ag0
group of children in Oshawa . . .)

August 27, 1965—PACIFIC T