Page 2
THE BATTALION
Thursday, Deeemb'er 17, 1953
Contests’ Make Roads
of I)e
By JERRY BENNETT
Battalion Staff Writer
There are contests every day in
the United States that rival in
primitive ferocity even the blood
iest days of the Roman gladiators.
But the winners receive no
prizes or public acclaim. And the
losers' penalty is death.
The arena for these games of
chance is the nation’s highways.
The players are motorists who,
through discourtesy, ignorance or
just plain stubbornness, place child
ish competition above violent death,
life-time injuries and broken
homes.
One group of contestants is made
up of American teen-agers. Their
auto games have added new words
to the vocabulary of useless me
chanized tragedy.
Take “drag racing,” for instance.
Two cars wait side by side for a
traffic light to change. Each
speeds up his engine. When the
light turns green the autos try to
pull ahead of one another. Both
are going at high speed.
There’s always a winner. But
many times there is a loser who
wasn’t even in the race.
Examples include the car which
happens to be in the middle of the
intersection when the light
changes. Or the small child who
darts innocently across the street
as the green signal starts to flash.
A broken, lifeless body is the win
ner’s trophy for his skill at fool
ishness.
Then there’s a deadly little game
called “Chicken.” A bunch of
kids pile into the front seat of an
automobile. The driver speeds the
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car on the highway. There’s just
one catch. Nobody’s hands are on
the steering wheel. The idea is to
see who grabs the wheel first. , He
is called “chicken.”
Some kids play another way.
Two cars are used. They are plac
ed several hundred yards apart
facing each other. At a signal the
drivers roar down the highway in
the same lane. The first one who
swerves to avoid a head-on col
lision is the “chicken.”
Doesn’t Deserve
The teenage group doesn’t de
serve all the blame for deadly
highway sports. Adults gamble
for stakes just as high. Every
highway has its driver who swears
by automobile advertisements and
a car dealer’s sales talk.
If his auto is supposed to have
the best pickup or fastest speed,
then pity the poor guy who hap
pens to pass him on the highway.
It’s just like a slap in the face, a
challenge to a duel involving two
hulks of top-speeding steel.
Imibediatcly he takes every
chance to get ahead of the other
car. A coroner’s report, burning
wreckage and cards of sympathy
are mute evidence of the game’s
outcome.
Then there is the driver who
doesn’t take any chances. He isn’t
going to be passed to begin with.
As soon as he sees a car pull out
to pass him, he speeds up. Pos
sibly he doesn’t realize that the
truck coming in the opposite di
rection is too close for the. passing
car to move back into the right
lane.
Stop lo Help
Unless he wants his name broad
cast over every police radio in the
state, he had better stop to help
pull bodies from the inangled steel.
The driver who refuses to dim
ing car is dangerous. But if the
other driver turns on his bright
lights for revenge, the highways
are marked for death.
One driver’s refusal to dim Ids
lights has been a challenge to the
other. It’s an eye for an eye, a
tooth for a tooth with such a need
less honor to fight for.
When questioned by police, both
drivers swear they were “blinded”
and never saw the group of eve
ning hikers walking along the
highway’s edge. They’re telling
the truth. They couldn't see any
thing, The pedestrians never will.
Last year’s National Safety
council figures show someone was
killed every 14 minutes on the na
tion’s highways. An average of L*
persons a minute were injured in
auto wrecks. Property damage to
taled $10 million a day.
Killed In Car Wrecks
More than 27,410 persons have
been killed in car wrecks this year.
Some of these deaths wei’e caus
ed by mechanical failures. Others
resulted from carelessness. But
many can be clmlked up as box of
fice proceeds from the sport of
fools—four-wheeled rivalry on the
nation’s highways.
Student Accidents
(Continued from Page 1)
In regard to the narrowness and
inadequacy of campus streets, Gar
rett said the planning of A&M’s
founders was done at a time when
the, automobile was still a dream.
Later streets were planned while
the automobile was still a creeping
infant.
Better traffic control would im
prove campus traffic conditions,
said E. B. Middleton, committee
member and professor of chemis
try.
The campus security officer post
ed at Spence St. and the veterinary
hospital during' rush hours is an
improvement, Middleton said, but
he was just recently assigned.
Perhaps if temporary one way
streets were employed during rush
hours, that is make main arteries
two-lahe one' way streets during the
time of heaviest use and divert oth
er traffic, bottle-neck conditions
wouldn’t result as often, Middleton
said,
Lt. Col. Robert L. Melcher, co
ordinator of counselors for the ba
sic division and a committee mem
ber, received reports from m o s t
of the safety officers in the corps
of cadets spotting hazardous con
ditions which they have observed.
“1 don’t think there is a partic
ularly dangerous area on the cam
pus,” Melcher said—“A man can
be injured or killed by any haz
ardous condition.”
Ve Walking
Yourself to Death
Twenty five x>er cent of all driv
ers involved in fatal auto accidents
in the U. »S. last year were under
25 years old.
By BOB HENDRY
Battalion Staff Writer
You're walking yourself to death,
buddy.
Yeah, buddy, 1 mean you. I
mean you and 8,049 other pede-
strains just like you, if this year
is anything like the last one. And
if you don’t brighten up fust, it
will be.
I know, buddy, you’re no more
careless than the other guy. I
know pedestrains who have said the
They all have one thing in com
mon;—they’re dead-
They died needlessly and pain
fully because, like you, they didn’t
pay attention to just plain common
sense rules of safety.
1 remember the man in Amarillo
doing his Christmas shopping. He
liked what was displayed in the
store across the street. The cor
ner seemed to be a long way off
and the store didn’t. So across the
street he went—half way that is.
1 remember the rather chubby
lady in Houston who walked into
a busy street from between two
parked cars. You wouldn’t think
such a round lady could be squash
ed so flat,
I remember the pedestrian in San
Antonio who always waited in the
street for the signal to cross at
the intersection. No matter what
people told him, he wouldn’t wait
on the sidewalk. .1 guess he would
still be waiting in the street if the
ambulance hadn’t hauled off what
was left of him.
I remember the man in Waco
who didn’t believe in obeying traf
fic signals when crossing streets.
“I don’t have to obey them,” he
said. He was right. They don’t
have them where he went.
I remember the lady in Fort
Worth who crossed streets diagon
ally instead of using the cross
walks. I’m bragging when I say
this. Actually there wasn't enough
left of her to remember.
A man in El Paso obeyed nearly
all the rules when crossing at an
intersection, except he never look
ed to the right or left. All he saw
was where he would have gotten
if the car on his right hadn’t fail
ed to stop for the signal.
I remember the man in Corpus
Christ! who use dto Lake his night
ly walk beside the highway. He
always walked on the right side of
the road instead of the left, and
. ,
never wore anything white. T
thought the black suit he wore in
his casket was very appropriate.
Yeah, buddy, they walked them
selves to death just like you are
doing. Each of them violated only
one of eight commonly over-looked
safety rules.
They didn’t consider -themselves
reckless. Many of them didn’t rea
lize they were even taking a
chance. They just didn’t think.
Care to take a walk, buddy?
The odds are never good . -
%
when
you gamble wilh your life
&C ehr
KRAFT INSURANCE AGENCY
State Farm Insurance Companies
215 S. Main
Bryan
Don t Let in a Tlale* of A Me§§ *
DRIVE CAREFULLY
INSURE WISELY
Jacob Beal Insurance Ag<
“Court House Across From Us”
FSBJ& AND AUTO INSUKAi
;ney
3.93:X. 26th .St.
£r: an
But be sure it’s a wise one.
DON'T " ; sw£tp your present hesltli arid peace of mind for a few
moments of careless driving that may bring you grief and
pain, as well as financial loss, for many years to come. DON’T
’’swap” your dreams for a nightmare. DRIVE CAREFUDDY.
FIRST STATE BANK & TRUST CO
200 N- Main
TO--
ryan
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/• *