Page 4'
THE BATTALION 1950 Annual Christmas Safety Edition
Friday December 15,1950
An Editorial
Y ou, The Drivers, Have ‘Written’ This Edition
T ODAY’S ISSUE of The Battalion is ded
icated to the deadliest killer in our na
tion—the American driver.
An that, Mr. Motorist, is you.
We’ve tried our best to make it worthy
of your time and attention. We feel that
you’ve earned it. In fact, you’re the one
that made every word of it possible. You’ve
co-operated wholeheartedly.
You’ve given us all the facts and figures
we could use. We even find that we don’t
have room for them all.
Some of your number were even kind
enough to “model” for our pictures. Take,
for instance, that crumpled mass of steel—
it used to be a car—wrapped so artistically
around a tfee. You’ll find it on page 6.
Beautiful piece of handiwork.
And notice, if you will, the two occupants.
You may have to look close, but they’re there.
One has his head wedged between the car
and the tree. The other is staring at the
splotch of blood on the tree. That arm stick
ing out there, incidentally, used to belong
to him.
We could have gotten a really gruesome
picture—you’ve given us thousands to choose
from—but we thought this one would be
good enough for our purpose. After all, our
two young friends (they were both under 25-
years old) did a creditable job. All by them
selves, too. It took only a few bottles of
beer, a bit of speed and a carefree twist on
the steering wheel.
But perhaps our charges are too blunt,
our subject too unpleasant and our remarks
a little too careless. tween the ages of 16 and 25 that chalked up
Perhaps you’re not a killer—yet. But more than 10,000 names on its bloody score-
you hold the power to kill every time you board in 1949.
flip that ignition switch. You, an intricate Naturally, you’ve never “floorboarded”
framework of steel and iron and a powerful it. You’ve never tried to set a record for
gasoline motor—the dealiest combination that trip to Dallas. You’ve never been “just
yet conceived by man. It killed 31,800 a little reckless” to see if it would frighten
Americans last year. It promises to kill 2,400 the girl-friend. Or have you ?
Texans this year. In one day—Christmas About our subject being unpleasant, we
Eve—it’s expected to account for 19 of that are afraid that it is. Apparently, though,
number. it’s not unpleasant enough. Every media of
But, of course, you’re not trying to kill public information in the country has told
anyone. You’re not trying to have an acci- America about the same subject in various
dent. ’ ways year after year. But our traffic deaths
How hard, though, are you trying NOT rose last year,
to kill someone? How hard are you trying That picture we referred to—we’re sure
NOT to have an accident? You’d better be some of you are a bit squeamish about look-
trying pretty hard. The people who know— ing at such things. How squeamish are you,
the safety experts—say that, in all proba- though, about violating an occasional traffic
bility, you will be involved in a traffic acci- rule or speeding or driving with “just one
dent at least once in the next ten years. Per-
haps it will be fatal to someone—even you.
Dea thless Holidays
Make Best Reward
For Safety Efforts
By THE BATTALION CO-EDITORS
or two” tucked under your belt.
Now about the careless remarks — we
figured it might be appropriate. You, the
average citizen, seem to consider traffic
tragedy in a careless attitude. You register
the expected shock when you read of violent Today’s paper marks the second time in as many years
highway death, then oftentimes go out and that The Battalion has published its Annual Christmas Safe-
repeat the formula that meant death for ty Edition.
others. You applaud campaigns like ours
as great public service efforts then forget
them and go on in your carefree way of liv
ing and driving, failing to profit from the
mistakes of others.
Yes, this issue is dedicated to you. Our
money and the money of our advertisers is
spent on you today. After alj, those of you
Some of you may remember that our efforts along this
line last year won us first place in the annual collegiate news
paper safe-driving campaign contest. We’re quite naturally
proud of that honor.
But we prefer to remember last year’s safety edition
from another viewpoint—something we consider significant.
Every student and faculty and staff member returned
to the campus from their Christmas without being involved
in a major traffic accident.
How strictly do you observe speed limi
tations ? Not that’s it’s too important. Only
10,100 persons, 44.9 percent of the total
number of traffic victims, sped to a date with
death last year. And how about such trival
things as passing on hills and curves—when
it’s “safe” of course? One hundred and
eighty Americans might tell you that it’s
never safe-
out.
D. Serahino Runs Red Light,
Tells Tale of Woe In Verse
0
We hope we’re right in assuming that our efforts may
in Texas spent $79,514,700 last year while well have had something to do with that pleasant record,
providing us with our facts and stories. If so > we’ll match that accomplishment against any award we
We thank you for everything. C0U ^A W i n 4-i, , , .
Tir , , , , , And that s why we re putting much more emphasis on
We re overwhelmed by your generosity. t ra ff j c safety this year. We hope we can insure a New Year's
* return that finds all of us back again. That is the only
true measure of the succcess of whatever work we’ve ex
pended.
Part of A Continuous Campaign
This special edition is only part not mean that any of us can af-
of the campaign we started before ford to slack off on our own per-
the Thanksgiving holidays, a cam- sonal safety campaign.
,UT of the darkened steam tunnels of
'Dorm 8 yesterday emerged Dominic
Serabino, poet laureate of A&M for many
-but they died last year finding moons -
Dom, who had just been evicted from his
Walton Arms apartment for hazing bedbugs,
And how about you of college age? Do was a bitter man when he approached the
you realize that you’re included in the fam- second floor of Goodwin Hall.
paign we intend to continue as time
and space permits through the rest
of the year.
ous “teen-ager group,”—that frisky clan be-
Home for Christmas
“Why the somber setting for your us
ually cackling countenance?” queried a
freshman Battalion major, breaking away
from his duties. He had been polishing
thumb-tacks on the bulletin board with a
Blitz cloth.
“Ah, bambino, you getta da free look at
da mos’ mournful man ofa dis college,” re
plied the saddened Serabino.
“But—why, kind sir?” shot back the
first-year man. politely genuflecting as a
co-editor entered.
“Dom cannot explain dissa sorta thing in
prose, young one. So, he musta use dat im
mortal medium of communidacation—a
pome.”
That’s the way it came about, just as
Isaac begat Abel. Follows Serabino’s pearl
of poetry, a hybrid sonnet:
“Dorn’s demise canna not be expressed,
In lines of ‘25 words ora less.’
She’sa take a coupla pair o’ graphs,
To putta dis lad back where he laughs.”
that campaign
“Dissa problem, she’sa got alia da trimmin’, siderable time and effort to com
Because—you guessed it! It’sa connected
widda wimmin.
Datta ‘root of all evil,’ dat’sa fora da
schmoe!
Causa’ da femme maka trouble, where-
eva she go.”
You’ve seen the number 2,400
repeated on these pages several
, , ,, , . , , , times since our campaign began.
Today marks the h.gh spot of That is our ted tr \ ffic
,^ e L e .5 e " t . C °. n ' for this year. It bests last year’s
total by almost 500 deaths.
That’s why none of us can af
ford to slack up. We can’t allow
ourselves such a shameful record
graphic and tragic portrayal of the
enemy we’re trying to lick.
We chose this time of the year
“I hadda da date, just ago a few day;
I still got pains froma dough I pay.
Neva again willa Dom be so dumb,
Not watch red light, just beata da gum.”
because it is the most dangerous * n . D51. And the only answer lies
on the highways of our state and the individual driver. He
nation. Short 'daylight hours, bad alone , must decide whether that toll
weather and other factors peculiar w 'll nse or tall next year,
to this time of year invariably Our work means nothing unless
place it at the peak on traffic our readers take to heart what we
death charts. say. We have only words at our
The fact that highway homicide control on these pages. It’s the
will decrease as the days grow driver that determines what the
longer in the next few months does automobile will do.
Many Groups Are Working for Safety
Our campaign for safe driving contained on these pages. We want
is by no means exclusive. Similar to especially mention the wholer
drives are in progress over the hearted cooperation of Governor
But she’sa coulda been, many many times country. And full-time agencies Allan Shivers; Chancellor Gibb Gil-
such as the National Safety Coun- christ, President M. T; Harrington,
“Mucha horrible crash did Dominic hear;
It bruisa da body and crusha da gear.
worse,
cil and the Texas Safety Associa- President Ned Dearborn of the Na-
their
My ride back to college mighta been. in r „tion as well as such insurance tional Safety Council, Director
da hearse” firms as The Travelers and Lum- Homer Garrison of the Texas De-
. " • partment of Public Safety/Lewis
E. Berry of the Texas Highway
Patrol, The Travelers Insurance
‘When behinda da wheel, watcha where .^ 0ur th , an ^’ inclden( i alI y> 18 du e Companies, Lumbermens Mutual
( ’ these and other organizations and Casualty Company and the count-
,r^,, ’ persons for much of the material less others who helped.
‘Taka dis advice; pasta inna dat hat.
Berman’s Mutual" "coiffTnue
never-ending campaign.
you are at.
Forra da girl, justa her days to enliven,
‘Holda on to your youth, but not when
he’sa drivin’.”
Thanks to Our Own Organization
Drunken Driving Will Cause . . .
6,000 Fatalities In 1950
Within our own organization on our staff who kept up day-to-
special credit for this edition is due day operations while we were en-
—Dean Reed Roland Bing, manager of student grossed in this section. They were
publications; Joe Arnett, assistant led by L. O. Tiedt, Bob Hughson,
manager; plus several cooperative Sid Abernathy and Jerry Zuber.
secretaries; and staff members Cooperation from every source
John Whitmore, Herbert O’Connell, was magnificent.
Roger Coslett, Andy Anderson, Now if you, our readers, can co-
Joel Austin, Frank Manitzas, operate as well in this battle fof
Chuck Neighbors, George Charlton, life instead of death on our high-
Tom Fontaine, and Dean Reed, ways, our time will have been well
Nor do we want to forget those spent.
Home for Christmas!
There’s a special magic in that phrase—
on a college campus or anywhere else. It
means the warmth of family get-togethers,
home cooking and plenty of it, reunion with
old friends, gifts under the tree, maybe
seeing the boy or girl friend who will be
going home too.
. An accident certainly would spoil that
wonderful holiday. And it isn’t very smart
to scoff at that possibility, because the
Christmas holiday season, ironically, is one
of the most dangerous periods of the year.
The big risk, of course, is from automo
bile accidents. There are so many cars on
the roads these days that deaths are going
up despite energetic efforts to prevent ac
cidents. And to this general trend the sea
sonal hazards—bad weather, poor visibility,
hurry-up holiday travel and considerable
over-indulgence in holiday spirits—and you
have a clear-cut warning that only the fool
ish will ignore.
Don’t take a chance when driving home
—and “home for Christmas” will be some
thing to look forward to for many years to
come.
Take it easy—and get there!
Ned Dearborn
President, National
Safety Council
The Battalion
Entered as second-class matter at Post
Office at College Station, Texas, under
the Act of Congress of March 3, 1870.
Member of
The Associated Press
Represented nationally by National Ad
vertising Service Inc., at New York City,
Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
DAVE COSLETT, CLAYTON L. SELPH
John Whitmore, L. O. Tiedt
Frank N. Manitzas
Bob Hughson, Jerry Zuber
Joel Austin
Co-Editors
Managing Editors
Sports Editor
Campus Editors
City Editor
Today’s Issue
Dave Coslett
L. O. Tiedt
Sid Abernathy
Frank Manitzas
...Safety Section Editor
Managing Editor
Campus News Editor
.. Sports News Editor
By JOHN WHITMORE
“Here’s one for the Road. Who
ever heard of just one little drink
making you too drunk to drive.”
These words are repeated daily
over the United States. What are
the effects? According to Na
tional Safety Council estimates,
6,000 men, women, and children
won’t be around to pay taxes next
year because of drinking and driv
ing.
At first the potential killer does
not feel the effects of a “Quick
One.” He feels as if he had a
tremendous boost in energy.
Scientific tests conducted by the
National Safety Council prove, in
stead of giving a boost in energy,
a drink dulls perception and body
movement. In many cases senses
are dulled enough to slow reaction
time several seconds—fatal sec
onds.
These lost seconds are enough
for a “One Drink Doesn’t Bother
Me,” driver to cause an unsuspect
ing family to have an unscheduled
funeral expense.
Drinking has another effect on
drivers—the heavy foot.
According to the State Highway
Department, intoxicants and speed
arc partners—in Death. Forty
per cent of the drivers involved in
fatal highway accidents were driv
ing over 66 miles per hour.
As shown in the graph at the
right the percentage of accidents
increased as the speed increased.
Accident investigations during
the first six months of 1950 show
30 per cent of drivers involved in
fatal highway accidents had been
drinking. Forty per cent of this
group were driving in excess of 66
miles an hour—that is before many
of them found themselves wrapped
around a tree.
To combat Driving While In
toxicated the state’s law enforce
ment officials have gone on the
offensive. Drivers licenses are be
ing revoked from DWIs.
Science also has taken a step
forward to make it easier to se
cure a conviction for drunken driv
ing. Law enforcement officers are
using a machine to check the alco-
hol content in the system. This
evidence is admissable in court.
With this concerted drive to stop
drunken driving, offenders arc
learning it doesn’t pay—monetarily
or conscicnce-wisc to play the 19th
hqle.
Traffic Who’s Who
Alcoholic
You all know Joe, a likeable guy,
Hardly a thing he wouldn’t try.
A car, some beer, plenty of gas,
The little blue Ford he tried to pass—
. Well here’s to Joe, the unlucky guy,
So damn young to have to die!
Speedster
Ava Jones was a beautiful dame,
Driving fast was her claim to fame.
Taking a curve going ninety-three,
She ran her car into a tree.
Jones had only herself to blame.
What was her pride is now her shame.
T. M. Fontaine
T. M. Fontaine, Carter Phillips Editorialists
Bob Hughson, Andy Anderson, George Charlton. Tom
Rountree, Alien Pengeliey. Leon McClellan, Wayne
Davis, Bob Venable, Bill Streich, Norman Blahuta,
John Hildebrand, Bryan Spencer. Ray Williams,
Herb O’Connell, Jim Anderson, Ori James, J. P.
Stern, Raymon Swan, Robert Ball, Bert Hardaway,
Edward Holder, Richard Ewing News and Feature Writers
Roger Coslett Quarterback Club
Rose Marie Zuber Society Editor
Jack Fontaine, Jerry Fontaine Special Assignments
Sid Abernathy i...Campus News Editor
Sam Molinary Chief Photographei
Herman C. Gollob Amusements Editoj
Ralph Gorman, Ray Holbrook, Harold Gann. Joe
Blanchette, Pat LeBlanc. Dale Dowell, Jimmy Curtis,
Chuck Neighbors. Fred Walker Sports Writen
Bob Hancock, John Hollingshead,
Tommy Fontaine, James Lancaster Photo Engravers
Emmett Trant. .Terry Clement. Bob Hendry Cartoonists
Autrey Frederick Advertising Manager
Russell Hagens, Frank Thurmond. .Advertising Representatives
Think It Over . .
Recipe for traffic tragedy:
mix alcohol and gasoline—and
steer! Remember this, the
National Safety Council ad
vises, during the festive holi
day season.
Never Again Perhaps
.... will you be able to buy life insurance
without a War Risk Exclusion provision.
If you think you may have to go to war,
and you value your life above $10,000, see
your life insurance agent TODAY. If ypu
have no agent of preference, please come by
and talk with me. I won’t try to high-
pressure you: Ask the man who has al
ready turned me down! If finances stand in
the way temporarily, arrangements can us
ually be made.
EUGENE RUSH, General Agent
American National Insurance Co.
(Galveston, Texas)
Office Above Aggieland Pharmacy at North Gate
• LAMPS
• LAMPSHADES
• CHINA
• POTTERY
• SILVER
That Will Please
Both Your Tas te
& Your Pocket-
book . . .
SEE OUR WIDE
SELECTION . . .
• ELECTRICAL
APPLIANCES
• END TABLES
• OCCASIONAL CHAIRS
• SPORTING GOODS
® KITCHENWARE
And almost anything that you will desire in the way
of a pleasing present.
HENRY A. MILLER
North Gate College Station