ABRAHAM RIBICOFF, Connecticut JOSEPH M. MONTOYA, New Mexico JAMES R. CALLOWAY, Chief Clerk and Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON EXECUTIVE REORGANIZATION JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Arkansas JACOB K. JAVITS, New York JEROME SONOSKY, Staff Director and General Counsel ROBERT WAGER, Assistant Counsel ESTHER NEWBERG, Chief Clerk II RVS 12 My 67 CONTENTS Page 1077 W. G. Johnson, general manager, National Safety Couucil.. Nicholas Kisburg, research and legislative director, Teamster's Joint Hon. Simon J. Liebowitz, chairman, joint legislative committee on motor vehicles, traffic and highway safety, New York State Legislature__ Gene Miller, manager, statistics department, National Safety Couucil.. Howard Pyle, president, National Safety Council.. Hon. Edward J. Speno, New York State senator. 81. Description of National Safety Council, organization chart, charter, 82. The traffic accident problem as seen by Safety Council.. 83. Federal installations registered in the driver improvement program. 90. Research and development activities of National Safety Council. 92. Safety Council statement on accident statistics and records. 94. Statement of Erle Cocke, Sr., for Safety Systems, Inc.. 96. New York State prototype safety car (exterior view) 97. New York State prototype safety car (interior view). 98. New York State prototype safety car (structural system) 99. New York State prototype safety car (general arrangement). ew York State prototype safety car (rear quarter view)- 101. Letter from John O. Moore, director of research, for William S. Hults, 102. Definition of work on safety car project, New York State Depart- 103. New York State Joint Legislative Committee comments on proposed Standards under Public Law 88-515----- 104. General Services Administration statement on progress made in auto- motive safety subsequent to March 22, 1965- 105. Traffic safety analysis by Hon. J. Edward Speno... 1219 1209 1172 1264 1078 1189 107. Patent No. 2,827,321; door latch for a pillarless auto.. 108. Letter from Ralph Nader: patent No. 2,872,539, steering wheel; patent No. 2,784,006, chest crash protector for vehicle steering wheels; patent No. 3,016,764, safety steering wheel; patent No. 2,827,801, automotive steering device; patent No. 2,903,904, ad- justable steering column and shaft; patent No. 2,892,359, steering wheel; patent No. 2,779,208, vehicle steering mechanism; patent No. 2, 624,596, crash panel for vehicles; patent No. 2,647,789, vehicle door locking means; patent No. 3,034,823, vehicle body; patent No. 2,929,261, transmission selector control; patent No. 3,149,466, fluid couplings; patent No. 3,097,542, brake pedal as- sembly; patent No. 3,098,675, shock-resisting motor vehicles; patent No. 3,080,190, frame construction for motor vehicles; patent No. 3,111,041, gear change control device for mounting under the steering wheel or on the instrument panel; patent No. 2,788,223, base frames for the substructure of self-supporting vehicle bodies; patent No. 2,512,527, body protection for automobiles: patent No. 2,070,760, safety device for automobiles; patent No. 2,079,536, steering mechanism for motor vehicles; patent No. 2,889,714, spring-loaded split steering wheel; patent No. 2,028,953, safety steering rod; patent No. 2,649,311, safety cushion assembly for automotive vehicles; patent No. 2,842,372, safety steering wheel 111. National Safety Čouncil general statement on factors in traffic acci- 112. National Safety Council excerpts from driver responsibility and traffic accidents and slogans as covered in the Denver symposium on mass communications research for safety, Murray Blumenthal, 113. "Legal Requirements for the Equipment and Design of Private Motor Vehicles: State Action and National Problems" Edgar Brenner, 23 George Washington University Law Review 429, March, 1955... 114. Letter and memorandum, automobile manufacturers' liability for defective products, by Neal Patrick Gillen, assistant director, HEARING DAYS FEDERAL ROLE IN TRAFFIC SAFETY (Pursuant to S. Res. 186, 89th Cong.) WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1966 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON EXECUTIVE REORGANIZATION, COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 8:30 a.m., in room 3302, New State Office Building, Senator Abraham Ribicoff (chairman) presiding. Present: Senator Ribicoff. Also present: Jerome Sonosky, staff director and general counsel; Philip Cook, professional staff member; Robert Wager, assistant counsel; and Esther Newberg, chief clerk. STATEMENT OF HON. ABRAHAM RIBICOFF, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT Senator RIBICOFF. The Senator Subcommittee on Executive Reorganization will resume its hearings on the Federal role in traffic safety. It would be proper to review what has happened since the subcommittee began its inquiry 1 year ago. Today there is a new awareness in this country that something must be done to make our highways safer. The public is aroused. There have been important efforts made to learn more about why accidents occur, how they can be prevented, and their tragic effects made less severe. The situation is vastly different than what it was a year ago. To be frank, when these hearings were announced last year, we were met with a "here we go again" attitude on the part of many.__The problem of traffic safety had been with us for a long time. There had been many pious statements, countless educational campaigns, thousands of articles in the press. Meanwhile the carnage on our highways continued to worsen as more and more Americans took to the roads in more and more automobiles. At our first round of hearings we heard from high officials of the Federal Government. The 646 pages of printed records for those hearings make it perfectly clear that the Federal Government had in fact no real program or policy directed against it for the largest killer in our land. The Federal efforts in the traffic safety field were pitifully small and disorganized and uncoordinated. Even in the traditional Federal field of statistical services there was a woeful lack of activity. We found that the Census Bureau in the Department of Commerce collects no data on traffic accidents. Nowhere in this vast Federal Establishment is there any place one can turn for reliable in 1077 formation, let alone find a facility to test promising new ideas in the traffic safety field. The subcommittee turned its attention in July from Washington to Detroit, and we heard from the automakers themselves. There was a fair exchange of views, and I like to think that some of the interest in traffic safety flowing from Detroit these days was influenced somewhat by those hearings. Auto manufacturers. have made additional funds available to educational institutions for traffic safety research. We can all hope that these expenditures are a prelude to their manufacture of safer cars. The automakers also made certain items of safety equipment which are required on all Government-purchased cars, standard equipment on all cars sold to the public. As we all know, seat belts, outside rear view mirrors, padded sunshades, backup lights, and other features are now included as standard items, but much more is needed. What about a dual braking system or a collapsible steering column? What must be done to persuade the manufacturers that they have a responsibility to the public to equip every car they build with real safety features? I am not suggesting that the solution to our highway safety problem lies exclusively with automobile design and safety features. We must continue to build safer highways. We must continue with driver training and enforcement efforts that will produce safer motorists. We must search for new devices and techniques that will ease the burden on the driver and give him that extra margin of safety that can save his life. The problem of highway traffic safety is not simply a technical problem. It is a social problem that clearly deserves the attention accorded other similar social problems which kill or maim our people. Almost 50,000 Americans are now dying each year on our highways and if the present rate of increase continues, that total will rise to 100,000 by 1975, unless we find corrective measures now. We are resuming the hearings today with testimony from Howard Pyle, the distinguished former Governor of Arizona and now president of the National Safety Council. All of us I believe know something about the efforts of the National Safety Council to promote safety on the highways. I hope that Mr. Pyle can provide us with some detail about those activities and how he views the future. I want to thank you, Mr. Pyle, for being here so early, and my apologies to the press for starting the meeting so early, but there is such a thing as a filibuster, and once the morning hour is over, our rights as to the hearings end too. Mr. Pyle. STATEMENT OF HOWARD PYLE, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL; ACCOMPANIED BY W. G. JOHNSON, GENERAL MANAGER; HARRY N. ROSENFIELD, GENERAL COUNSEL; PAUL F. HILL, ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER; GENE MILLER, MANAGER, STATISTICS DEPARTMENT; AND MURRAY BLUMENTHAL, PH. D., MANAGER, RESEARCH DEPARTMENT Mr. PYLE. Thank you very much, Senator Ribicoff. I would like to present my two colleagues, Mr. Bill Johnson, our general manager, who has been with the council about 28 years, and our Washington counsel, Harry N. Rosenfield, who is well known, I think, to you and Mr. Sonosky. |