LegHist.PL89-563.Volume.ONE.Sec.Ten.and

er of deatha and ttren brtls out B blll we
give the id.prer8lon that Bhen the stanalard$
&re set for autooobileE lt wlll ftEt€rlally
realuce the number of accldenLs and
the number of destbs. One of the dlflculttes
we had ln our heBrings ws the
fact that there are no sttrtistlcs of Eny
velue showlng the p€rcentage ol deeths
arld Butomoblle eccldeflts due to mechanical
failures. Ttle only flEuIeB I hsve
seen recently are those produced by the
Automobile Assocletlon of Mlchlsen.
They traced the flumbor of Bccldents fe-
Bulting in deaths over the Memorial Day
wmkend of thls yedr tqhen therc were 43
deaths ln Michlsan thBt weekend end
also over the Fourth ol July weekend
when there were 28 deaths. Ttrere were
g)me vefy lnterestlng facts wtllch were
brought out as a resu.lt of thelr study.
One ls that not one of the lndlvlduals
kllled wro we8ilng & seat belt or had his
sat belt attached. We have a law todBy
whtch requires seat belis, but there wRs
not one ol the 69 persons kllled ln those
Bccldents thet had hls seat belt on, Some
other lnteresting $tatl$tlcs afe that
alcohol wag lnvolved tn Bt lesst 50 percent
of the latsl affldents on the MemoflBl
Dey tr'eekend snd 4l percerlt ot the
2d deaths whlch fficurred on the Fourth
ol JulY weekend.
Also, Mr. Chalrman, over the holld8y
wef,kencl of the Memlrlsl Day, 2,750,000
motorlsts drcve Bafely Bnd without En
Bcclilent In tb€ Stat€ of Michlsan.
Also, Mr. Chetrmen, over 90 percent
ol those ktlled tn automoblle accldents
were kllled wtttrln 25 miles of thelr homes.
1961? wldcb lnv-et$€lv may prove tltat ttle sar6t
plrft to br, lI one lE drivhs an Eutomoblle,
ls tnyond 25 ttrlls lrom one's
home.
Mr. ChElmBn, one of the advEntages
contained ln thl6 blU wlu be the &crmulatlon
of Btatlstlca es to *het c{usd$ accldents,
whether lt ls ErechBnlcal fall.rle
or prltnarily driver eror.
Mr. Chalrman, ln the Memorial DRy
highwBy deaths ln Michigan there wes
only one &ccideDt e.ttribut{rble to mr'-
:.r.
chefllcal lellure and thet was s blowout.
In that ca$e the drlver wa$ going at E
rstr of $peed of ll5 mlles an hour. belng
cha.ttd by a patrolman. The blowout orcurred
&nd the dl'iver welrt ofi the road
anal was killed.
Now, Mr'. Chalmtan, that wss the only
fitechanical failure ln ell of the 4J tlut
sas lrlvestigated.
So, I{r. Chairron, I mention these
thilus to slmply alert the public and
oursclves to the fact that we should not
be smuF to belicve ttBt tlris biu is goiltF
to fltat€ria,Uy rcduce deatlu due tD accldent.
Mr- ChairmBn. the only thinEr contained
in this bill or its compaliion bill
H.Ft'. 13290 t() help reduce death$ is rhe
ttratt€r of iiSh[er)lng up on the licerlsing
of driver$ $rrd the traifling of drivers es
well as the iropetion of f,ut,omobiles, and
the removel of the llceroe of drivers after
a fatal accident, for & long period qf
time.
Mr. Chairmen, lf those thlngs are done,
then I b€lieve we can materially reduce
Ilouse Debate
death.$ as E r6ult
dent$.
of autodoblle eccl-
Mr. Chalrman, I doubt very much,
however, tegetdlesri ol all mectEniGl attactments
Bfld reghrdless ol shai the
Erechanlcal attachments ue- or the nrecharilcal
attactments thEt are left ofi the
autdmoblles, we are goiltEr t[ Het E reel
reduction ln the deeth rate due tc automoblle
accldents.
Mr. CtEiman. I am h lavor of tlre
blU. I vot4d lor it ln comittee and I
hope $e can change the Eppointment of
the Advlsory Councll to a Pre$ldentlEl
appolntment,
bodyconirmed
by the other
Mr. Chalman, I belleve lt ls wrong
to have the S'ecretary appolnt an Advisory
Council whlch he hlmself ch.rose$.
We had better abolish the Advlrory
Council r&ther th&n t4 have a slf-serul]1s
Advlsory Council.
Mr. Chliman. I sm ln favor of the blll
ahd I hope that it passes.
lrr. IIAEVEY of Michlgan. Mr.
ChBirmsn, uill the gelttl€man ylcld?
Mr. YOUNGER. Ye$; I $haU be Blad
to yield to the gentleman lrom Michlgan.
Mr. HARVE'y of MichiElan.
rnan, I thank the gentleman
forria, fof ylelding.
Mr. Chalr-
from Call-
Mr. ChalmM, f wor:ld lll(e fo poht
otlt to the gentleman from Callfornla
that ln llne wlth the Mlcblsen flsureE
slrich the Fentleman clted Just B few
hinutes earlier, f feel t}Iat the genucman
would be interested ln oilrer flgures
whlch were clt+d ln sn €dltorlhl rruch
apeared ln the Detmlt FrE Press oh Juhe
28, 1s66.
- Ih Uhe wtth what ttre Ecntleman Eald,
tlte D€trott Ft€€ Frre8s Fotnteal out thrt
ElthouEh deaths had Eone up 29 prrcent
ln the pe$t 30 years, neverthele$s in those
stne yeaE thg populatlon has Bone up
by 52 percent; the nuber of licenscd
driverg he$ gone up by 134 percent, End
the numbtr of vehlcles on the rosd h*s
EoDe up by 220 p€rccnt.
Thls nesspaper concluded e3 e ftsult
ot these flgures that despite the fact that
se were losing 50,000 lives a yffir, and
this is a shocking thins, neverthrless in
!'teu'of the tremendou populat.iotr lflcrrase,
In vicw of the trcmendousi increase
in the number of licensed driversand
the nmbcr of vehicles on the road,
tlrat no other conclusirtrr wa$ pos$ible
olher than, No. I, thosr persoro enHEHed
ln tmffc jrafety today have b€cn doing a
miShty firle job. tuId, No. 2, automobile
mirrtulscl,urers themtrlves havc brcn
tuilllrg out somc mishty nrle cars and
Eomc mighty safe c&rs, or thesc ngtJres
Jut sould not be possible whatsoever.
And irl vleN of what thc centleman
had said, I thoucht hc sould be interested
in the# fi.gures-
Mr. YOUNGER. I thenk the gentletnarr
for his contributlon, and I ssy that
it i$ further prool to my mlnd that the
Eutomoblle ltself, mecharucBlly,
deathtrsp.
l$ not a
The CHAIRMAN. The EentlemBrr
Irom Callfomia has consumetl I minutes.
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