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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1953)
Number 162: Volume 53 COLLEGE STATION (Agg-ieland), Texas THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1953 FtiMIghed By A&M Students For 15 Years Price Five Cents They just 'Won 3 1 Listen . . * Student Accident Increase Worries Prevention Group By CHUCK NEIGHBORS Battalion Staff Writer ! Bennie A. Zinn, chairman of the accident prevention committee of the college, is concerned because there are more traffic accidents in volving A&M students this year than last. To remedy the situation, Zinn, tvho is assistant dean of men, sug gests better safety education and a closer watch of campus speeders. Another area of danger, he says, is on the playing field. When ca dets play football, they should realize that serious injury may be caused because of lack of pads. “We have had several accidents this year involving broken bones and concussions which were incur red in playing tackle football with out pads,” Zinn said. Lectures Should Be Used Physical education instructors, dormitory counselors and unit com manders should lecture student athletes on safe practices, he added. Welcome E. W light of the in dustrial education department, a member of the committee, said he has noted a lack of adequate street makings. “We need more stop and caution signs,” he said. Wright especially mentioned safety in buildings and said depart- Accidents Cost You $54.30 Yearly The nation’s accident toll for last year cost you $54.30. You, as a citizen of the United States, paid this figure, either di- dectly or indirectly, as your share of the total cost of the country’s accidents. Accidents during 1952 cost the nation $8,700 million. This means that each of the country’s one hundred and sixty million people had to pas’’ $54.30 as his share. Broken down, the loss figure in cludes wage losses, $3 billion; med ical fees, $600 million; insurance, $1,300 million; automobile damage, $1,500 million.; fire damage, $815 million; production loss, $1,500 mil lion. ment heads will soon be asked to make suggestions for correcting unsafe conditions in their build ings. “We know, for one thing,” Wright said, “that the stairways on each end of the Academic building are inadequate.” The committee has accomplished one thing this year, Wright said, concerning low tree limbs and low places in streets. Tree limbs which projected into the path of sidewalks and endan gered eyes of passersby have been clipped. Low places which, when it rained, became filled with water and threatened the health of ca dets, have been filled in, he said. “Improve traffic conditions.” That is the advice of Roy C. Gar rett, member of the accident pre vention committee and associate professor of agricultural engineer ing. To improve vehicle-pedestrian mixups during class hours, Garrett suggested that certain streets in the center of the campus be closed to traffic. (See ‘Student Accidents’, Page 2) A Home on Fire Mishaps Top College Age Death List The leading cause of death for people in the college age group is accidents. Out of every 100,000 people who die each yeai*, 55 of them are people from 15 to 24 years old who died because of acci dents. Motor accidents were the leading killer for the college age group. Next was drown ing. Other causes, in the order of their frequency, were fire arms, railroad accidents, fire burns, falls, poison gasses and Solid or liquid poisons. When I One Aggie Death Possible—Iliekmam By BOB BORISKIE Battalion Staff Writer A flood of more than 2,400 automobiles will pour from the campus for the Christmas holidays, and tbe odds are that at least one car will be involved in a fatal accident, said Fred Hickman, chief of campus security. “We will be unusually lucky if we don’t have some Christmas fatalities,” Hickman said. It is further reasonable to expect several other cars to be involved in serious wrecks which will result in personal in juries and property damage, Hickman added. These statements add to figures released by N. K. Woer- ner, chief statistician for the state department of public safety. During the holiday period, 190 persons will meet “violent Texas Is Above in Texas, Woerner death’’ said. Between the hours of mid night, Dec. 23, and midnight, Jan. 1, 100 persons will die in traffic acidents in Texas, he said, with 50 other deaths fi'om miscellaneous- causes, such as fires,- brownings- and explosions. Homicides and Suicides Another 40 persons will be vic tims of homicides and suicides dur ing the same period, Woerner said. Auto accidents have killed 400 more people so far this year than last. Last year 38,000 persons were killed and 1,350,000 injured, ac cording to the National Safety council. Up to September of this year, 27,420 persons had been killed in motor vehicle accidents. By Sep tember, 1952, 27,030 had been kill- ed? One Every 14 Minutes Every 23 seconds someone some where in the United States last year was injured in a traffic acci dent. Every 14 minutes, someone died. Every 15th death occurred in Texas. Last year’s motor-vehicle death tables show Texas second only to California in number of traffic deaths. National Safety council figures show 3,552 died in California traf fic accidents, -while Texas had 2,498 deaths from the same cause. Overturning Leads Causes Of Deaths How do automobiles kill col lege-age people? They kill them in all sorts :>f ways—overturning, hitting other cars, hitting other ob jects of all kinds. The leading way automobiles kill voung people is by overturning or unning off the road. According o statistics, more people in the 15 o 24 age group are killed this way than any other way. Next on death’s list is collision vith other cars. Then pedestrian accidents-—get- ing hit by a car. Then running into a ‘fixed ob- ict’ — a statistician’s word for 'ees, light poles and telephone oles. Next is collision with trains—not ating the engine’ at a grade •ossing. Collision with bicycles is next, d although this is next to last ir the 15-24 group, it is first for he 5-14 age group. Last is all other collisions — treet cars, animals, and animal drawn vehicles. Two Deaths Mar Record For City College Station has had two deaths from automobile acci dents this year. Both deaths were the re sult of a head on car-truck crash on highway 6 near the East Gate. Killed were a student and his small child. “We have had an average of three accidents a month,” said Cur tis Bullock, College Station patrol man. Three cars have turned over at the circle. Most of the accidents have been caused by speeding, Bul lock said. “We had more accidents last year than we had for five years,” said Bullock. “The rate is up even more this year.” He said several arrests have been made for driving while intoxicated, but charges were filed by the coun ty. Slow Down. Bud! You Watch, And You Think By JON KINSLOW Battalion Staff Editor As you stand there, looking at the towering blaze that was once your house, you try and think of a million things at one time. However, one thing keeps pound ing a way in your mind, and it re fuses to give you peace until you discover just what went wrong. You never really think of these things until your house is on- fire. And yet, you can be in this same position if you put off safety un til it is too late. “What did I forget?” You keep thinking. “What caused the fire that is now eating its way through the roof, out of control of the fire men?” Maybe it was a copper penny placed behind the fuse that blew when you overloaded the circuit. You thought fuses were a nuisance, but you never stopped to consider that they were a warning that something Avas Avrong. “No,” you keep saying to your self, “I think I put another fuse in the box. I’m not sure, but I think I did.” You moAe aside as a fireman AAuth a hose tries in vain to work closer to the raging inferno. You hear the fire chief say something about the fire starting on the north side of the house. That’s in the bedroom. Slowly, painfully, the AAdiole story comes into view. You visualize how the fire started. You see it just as the north wall and the roof cave in with a sickening crash. A shower of sparks towers into the sky. “It’s no use chief,” one of the sweaty, dirt-smudged firemen says. “All we can do now is keep it fi'om spreading to the othea houses.” Now you think you know. That all important alarm clock that reg ulated your life had a bad wire on it. Sure, there was only one frayed place one it. Only one. “I’d been meaning- to get a new cord for it,” you think. “Never could remember it, though. And I had to use that alarm clock.” One bad place on the cord, and it may have changed your whole life. The fire chief comes over. “Sorry, but thei-e’s nothing we can do but put out the embers as the blaze dies down. It’s just one of those things.” You feel choked, but you man age a strained, “Thanks, I under stand.” Then you walk over to your wife. All you can do is look at each other and at the fire. Someone says you can spend the night with them, and you nod your head. After the trucks leave, all you can think about is that clock. The clock that once regulated your life, now disrupts it. You try foolishly to blame the clock for your misfortune, but you knoAV it’s your OAvn fault your house is gone. You remember the time-worn phrase, “An ounce of prevention,” But there is one thing that sticks with you. You didn’t have enough time for just a little safety. You’ll know better next time, but it’s going to be quite awhile before a next time comes for you. Quite awhile. Average in Deaths Texas has moi-e accidental deaths than the average for the entire nation. Counting accidental deaths of all kinds, the nation in 1953 had 96,000 deaths, or 61.6 deaths for every 100,000 people. Texas in 1953 had 5,509 deaths, or 67.3 for every 100,000 people. Firearms Still Cause Deaths Non-motor-vehicle death rates are decreasing — except for fire arms accidents. Frequency curves show accident al deaths due to falls, bums, droAvning, railroad accidents and poisons are deci-easing. But the one accidental death fac tor that has not decreased is fire arms. The graph for fire arms is a straight line, with only slight rises and falls over the years.