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

ebout both tlte eccusation8 end the Bly
lnferences that I have heard hnd read
about the wotkers end Eranf,gement of
the autoftobi;e industry. I do not llke
the lnference tirat the industry and the
wortsers ere not deeply con$cious of
E6fety. Ahyone who talls you l,his $lmply
has not been ln an autohobile pl8.tit
or is distorting the truth.
In coDclusion, I would simply suggeet
to tny colleaBues that when you leave
the Chamber t0 return to your homes
toniglrt and you lasten your seatbelts
Bnd lock your car doors lor by d.oil\g
this y6s wlll probably be doing $ymbollcally
as much for aulo safely as Efly plece
of legislation that csn be wrttten. Certalnly,
this is a far more constructlve
and efiectire approsch than all the
soapbox oratory, the etnotionEl appeal$
and the search lor *apegoats End con-
Eplracies that have pr€yed upon the
lesltlmate corceln of all Asrerlcans lor
sefety on ouf hlgh\.l ays. I erh personally
satisfled that es a result of the debate ln
and out of Congres, the charges rhade
ln recent rnonth.s against the dutomobile
workers and industry have been exposed
to the Amerlcan people as gro6s over-
6ljnpllfications.
Mr. SPRINGER. Mr. Chalrman, I
yield 3 tninute$ to the sentleman from
New York IMr'. iIALPERN].
Mr. HALPERN. Mr. Chalrman, I
would llke to exFress By full enil enthuslmtic
support for th€ proposd Natlonal
Traffic snd Motor Vehicle S8fety Act. of
1966. Slnce the days when I was a memb€r
of the New York Stat€ Eenat+, where
I served for E years E-s chd.hrnan of the
Joint Ifgt$letlve Commiitee on Motor
Vehlcles. I hete edyocat€d a more active
goverrufi€ntsl role ln enmu'aginEl trBllic
safety. f have ln the past introduced
leslsletion similar ln efiect to the trafiic
E8fety bill. Thts bill, along with the
hiehv'ay safety b'll wNch we B'1ll consider
next, represenls the long overdue
f,nd vltelly necesB&ry Federal resrnh$e to
a problefrt e,s old s Our entu'y- we
Ehoulil pas$ lt es weU as lts compehlon
hlchwey sbfety blll, ln ffi stronEt B form
as possible-
Since I900 more then 1.5 mlllion Amerlcans
trEve died ln traftc trcid€nttssub-
Etsntlfllly more than the number oI ca6ualties
ln ell Ameflcsn wars; Certelnly
this ls an astonishlng, almost lncredlble
tr&gedy.
Whet 16 even more importallt, tl)ough,
ls thet the problem of tramc safety-or
FerhaFs better put, the problem of the
lack of trafnc ssfety sderu to be growlng
more and more serlouB. In the 1960's
there has btrn e shBrD rlse ln fatalltles
compared to the reletlvGly Bteble Ferlod
of ttlc 1950's when the aillual numb€t
of deaths already ran6ged between the
horrendou flFures of 35,000 Bnd 39,000.
Accolding to the Natlons) salety Councll,
lagt year, In 1965, 49,000 Aherlcaro
were killed in trafnc sccidcntE. Futher.
1-8 miulon were disbled and another
1.8 mlulon suflered minor lnjurie$. The
eggregate mst of the nccidents was estimateal
at $8.5 btllton in prcperty alamage,
wege8 lost, medlcal exp€ns€s, end lnsuance
pelmenf,s-
Thffie few brlel Etatl8tlcs 6peak tor
them8€lved. I a.m fllre all of you are
Tamdlar slth their me$$age, Whatever
eflofls to promotr tra,fic ae.Iety heve so
fEr been underteken, whether by industry,
nonproflt org&ni?ation, or State or
lftal gorerrutent, thesc efforts have unlorLurtstely
proyed lnadequate. Something
more must be done, ud the Federal
Goverment must, mEke sure thet lt
is done. Oiherr'lse, e.cmrdinE to expert
analysls, the cu-rrent, average of 1,000
hlghwBy datlr$ per week wlll double ln
t}le next decede. It Is not utresonEble
to estlm8te that unlN efiecLive Federal
Sctlol\ ls taken, deaill\ on the NatiLon's
}iEhways may re6+h I00,000 anltue.lly by
l9?5.
There is, of coul'se, ho Blngle cause of
tra.frc rccidenls; and so we should not
lodh for Rnv mf,nistic solution t{} the
problem whlch foces u.(. Any effettive
epproach to tJre proble$r \Nill have to be
a hultifaceted one whldh touches upon
Et lelst four prlnclFle ltems: the drlver,
the roa.d. law enJorcement, end tlre cer.
Together, the proposed Highwrry shd
TtEfEc sBlety Acts of 1966 Frovide Just
such Ls multlfBcrt€d EpproEch-
The trsfic $afety bill, H.R. 13228,
sthlch we are nos coroiderlng, fmu.ses
primarily on Just one cr)mpolteltt OI the
trefrc sfety problem-the motor vehlcle
Itself. T'tris blll authorizes Lhe Secretsr"y
of Cornmerce to eslabllsh Federa.l mlnimum
stsndard.$ for mo[or vehicle snd
motor vehlcle eqEipment perfolmance.
It elso authorizes the Secretsry to conduct
8"nd prromote motor vehlcle sfety
research, developm€nt, and ttrting. F\rrther,
tfie blll lncorporute$ tire sL&ndbrd
provlsloro similar to tho'se oorrt8.ined ln
the $rnat€-pas6ed Tire Safety Acl,, es
well as in H.R. 14190, L blll I introduc€d
nryself.
H-R. f3228 is an excellent plece of
leSlslatton hs lt Dow stands. It signlflcantly
strengtherls the Senate version of
the trat0c sfety biu by coverins trucks
arrd b$es currently regulEted by the lffttrstate
Commerce Coftmission end by
Buthorizing the establishmeht of FtsderEI
standards for uBed vehicleE wlthln 2
yesrs after enacfuflent of the blu. I be-
Iieve, however, that tt ls unnroesssrlly
weaker tlrBn the genate blll in the erea
of enforcement. It does not lnclude severel
en-forcement and lnvestigEtory
tlleasures Bppealing in the Scnate verslon,
such as civil penaltleE for manufacturers
fBiling to notify owners md
dealers of salety defffts, and provisions
for on-slt€ inspection of manufacturer's
premises by the Secretaly with penslties
for any noncompliance discovered durlnF
the fuTpections, I bclieve we $hould
carefully coLsidef amendin8 H-R. 132?8
to bring it into conformity wlth the senatc
bill ln these matters.
I would also like to recommend one
further sddition, and thi$ i$ a provislon
from snother of my b111s, H.R. f5060,
whtch tt$eu contelns most of the baslc
elehents of the reportrd traf0c safety
btll. This provlslon wou]tl speciflcally
Euthorize the S€cretary of commerce to
cefry out & progrem to alevelop proto'
type safe vehlcles. These specl$l prototype
cars would embody ttle selety
deslgn$ developed a$ a result of the re-
Bearch udertatsen anrl promotcd bv the
$ecretary. I belleve lt would be a great
Vol.I