SUBCOMMITTEE ON
EXECUTIVE REORGANIZATION
COMMITTEE ON
GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
EIGHTY-NINTH CONGRESS
TRAFFIC SAFETY: EXAMINATION AND REVIEW
OF EFFICIENCY, ECONOMY, AND COORDINATION
OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE AGENCIES' ACTIVITIES
AND THE ROLE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
FEBRUARY 2, 3, AND 10, 1966
Printed for the use of the Committee on Government Operations
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1966
ABRAHAM RIBICOFF, Connecticut
FRED R. HARRIS, Oklahoma
ROBERT F. KENNEDY, New York
LEE METCALF, Montana
JOSEPH M. MONTOYA, New Mexico
JAMES R. CALLOWAY, Chief Clerk and Staff Director
ARTHUR A. SHARP, Staff Editor
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EXECUTIVE REORGANIZATION
ABRAHAM RIBICOFF, Connecticut, Chairman
JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Arkansas
ERNEST GRUENING, Alaska
ROBERT F. KENNEDY, New York
FRED R. HARRIS, Oklahoma
JOSEPH M. MONTOYA, New Mexico
JACOB K. JAVITS, New York
MILWARD L. SIMPSON, Wyoming
CARL T. CURTIS, Nebraska
JEROME SONOSKY, Staff Director and General Counsel
PHILIP COOK, Professional Staff Member
ROBERT WAGER, Assistant Counsel
ESTHER NEWBERG, Chief Clerk
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___
Ralph Nader, attorney--
Howard Pyle, president, National Safety Council_
Hon. Edward J. Speno, New York State senator..
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
with inflatable cushion for vehicles_
111. National Safety Council general statement on factors in traffic acci-
dents...
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,
editor_.
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,
legal department, American Automobile Association..
FEDERAL ROLE IN TRAFFIC SAFETY
(Pursuant to S. Res. 186, 89th Cong.)
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1966
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
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