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

gelety ln htghway
'fhe
marklng. sreat
burden of testlnlony wss directed At the
vehicle, but tlle 16g616 shows that a lnlge
lturnbcr of accldent$ al'e the Icsu-l! of ltr-
Bdequate mBrkings otl our hlghwayE.
Orle $urvey ln Icwa lndicat€s tlrat thet'e
was a 63-percent reductioll of accldents
bectrEe of markings {rnd trBfdc glSns on
certaln Etretches of highways, Bnd cert8in
dellneators nlong the roadslde ln
Mlchlgan on two test locEtlons reduced
nlght eccldents by ?8 percent and 39 ll€rcenl
r'espectlvely. In VirginlE the reductloll
wAs 5? end 6? percent lu two tests.
F,lght-&gle yleld $lgns reduced Eccldents
by 62 percent ln 9?9 loce.tlonE. we Elso
tlnd that on the rurel roEdc there are
164.8 accident$ per 100 hllllon miles of
trtrvel. on prlluBry road$, the nmb€r
l$ S0.{, but on secondary roadg lt ls I64.8.
IlI other wolds, there is A ? to I rEtlo On
trrcndary road$. fn the other part of
the bill lt ls my underst4ndlnq that there
will be some language whtcir wlll deal
wlth hlghway marklngs. Thls k lfirport8nt,
and I hope that tr llttle couoqw
wlll take pltrce on the floor relettve to
these me.tters when we dlsu$s th8t porttotr
of the btll, because lt ts mo8t lmportant.
Mr. EPEINGER. Mr. ChalrmEn. r
yleld 5 mlnute$ to the gentlernan from
ohlo IMr. DEvrNEl.
Mr. KOFNEGAY. Mr. Chelmsn, wlll
thc gentlemilh yleld to me?
Mr. DEVINE. I ylekl to the Eentlem4n.
Mr. KORNEGAY. Mr. C.h8lrmEn. f
rlse in support of H.R. 13229. r oomend
my chalrman, tlre gentlemBn from West
Vlrglnis, and my colleB8ue8 on the coffimittee
for thelr dedlcat€d efiorts ln wrtt-
Ing thls bill now before us, tlre Nstlonal
TrEfnc snd Motor Vehlcle aafety Act ot
t90s.
I thlnk the blll we Ere debsflng lr e
oltrllt to the ttlemb€r8 of the Comrhtttee
on lnterstate and Forelgn Comrnerdc.
Tlle commlttte worked longer 6,nd hsrdcr
orr thls blll than any that hEs ccme before
the cohmlttee since I was prlvuegeal to
sit on thls colrtrnltte. pubuc heRrln8s
werc held over B z-rnonth Feriod- Exterlsive
tcstimony wrH hear.d from s
vBriety end a number of lnt€rested wltnesses.
Seventeen executive sesslons
were held before the blll wES report€d
unanlrnou$ly.
Becau$e of the complexltleE lnvolved
ln the problehs of trafrc and vehicle
se.fety, every Espect touchlrrg on the
many problelrrs sere nlcroscoplctlly ex*
amlled. Tlris required E coL9tant process
of revlsing and rewdting the orlsnal
blll. T'hrou8h thc wor.k of mdny hundreds
of mau-hours on the lrart of the
committee and its stafr, we bring to you a
blll which Is as Bood rs the collccilve
minds of tho commlttee could make lt,
It, tnfty not be l)crfect. but I contcltd it ls f
gi8nt stelr fofwald irr the rlght directlon,
a step that will, in my conEldered opinlon,
go fsr toward atteckln8 the Befety problem.
The problem faclng us ls rmmen6€.
Over 50,000 persons wlll dle on our hlghways
tlrls year as the result of tfafrc
Over SB blllion ln property demsset \r'lll
be sustnlned due to &utomoblle crs6he3.
The legislatlon we Ere conslderlng today
will not, of course, end the csrnage
cornpletely, nor wlll lt mEke the Butomobilet
or ttte hlghways completEly Bafe.
But, lt wlll help.
I sm Froud to h6ve b€€I s member of
the comftlttee thflt rcported tht8 blU to
you lor youf considelatton. I hope thEt
you wlll ehare our l)rlde ln our vote for
Its passage here.
Mr. DEVnIE. Mr. Chslman. tt|e cartEge
ln AEtln, Tex., a cow)16 of weka
aE$, where the so-caUe(l student mounted
the tower snal flreil on the psple below
and kllled l5 or 30 lnnocent ctilzena
brought forth B remark from one ot th6
MehtErs of the other body ecro3s th6
CEpttol to the efiect thet people Llll
people; not gunsBnd notautomobues. It
ts the fellow trhlnd the gun, or tn thla
tesl8lgtlon, the wheel.
Thls leBlsletlon wBs bfought rorward
prlmerlly becaw Mr. Neder and othets
msde publlc pronouncernents about certaln
alleged facts ln the automoblle Industry.
The record ls cleEr End thero
Bre rlo me&ningful stEtlstlcs thet werd
pfoduced. no stgtlstlcs were brought fqrfih
ftom lny source nor hsve thero ben any
reBu.lts of any studles whlch have been
lne.de wlllch show what lrcrcentage ol
the deEths or Eccldents were ca.u.ced aa
tr dlrect re3ult of defectlvely menufactured
vehlc)es, I thlnk Frobably ltle
most 6tartllng $tEtl6tlcs whlch we heard
E$ a re$ult of the wltne$ses who appeared
before our Cornrnlttee (fi Interstate and
Forelgn Cortlmerce were thRt the uEa ol
Elcohol wa8 Involved ln at lea.st 50 [r€rcent
ol all tlre eccltlents whlch dld result
In fatelltles. I ws B blt sururlmd to flnd
Amerlcnn Motors, cenerBl Motort,
chrysler, Ford and sll ot the reFre$ent&f
tlves of these greBt mrtsrRtions gBye lr^
the flrst week and dftided that the fft{
enterprl8e Eystem could no longer solve
the$ problelns and that they were turnlng
to the Government not to $olve lt
slone but to do tt on a cooper&tlve bssls.
Thls lF certalnly b twlst. The testlmony
Itfore our commltt€e had En adver8e
e.frect on the economy of the NEtlon, becRu$e
the publlc was slrooked lnto bellevlnH
that these Ereat corporatlon$ weFe
ffi&nufscturlng cRr$ wlthout regard to
sefety. So, many people declded not to
purchasd autofiroblles of the 1966 model
because they were lulled lnfo a fAlse scilse
of securlty h tnuevlns that our great
Federal Govetnhent hsd Fut ils flnBer
on the problem and that the manufacturers
would strddenly ln 106? morlels,
begln to rn8nufBcture only Eefe cBrs and
that no one wou.ld tr hurt or kllled ln
the futurc.
Mr- Chalrman, I Bm not a stranger ln
the f,eld of leglslEtlng wlth regBrd to
eutomoblle safety and that sort ol thlng.
Flft€en year6 ago when I Eerued In tho
Ohlo Leslslh.ture, I wa6 one of the cosDonsors
of a salel,y hrstnctlon btll whlch
pffied the houe and Dassed tJre $errate
Bnd wB$ vetoed by the Governor but
pEssed over hl6 veto ln the house. I ElBo
sporbored leglslatlofl orderlng a msnde-
I
eccidenLs. M{"ru. thousands of othere wlll
suffer $evere and permflhent inJurlB.
tory l0-de.y Jell sentence lar thos€ cohvlcted
of drlvlng mder the Influenoa ot
730 Vol.I