The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, December 16, 1965, Image 1
d line * dtobea pro- 6,8 average, rebounds per Aggies have ts per game norm for the /es Tim Tim- Trippet nd 78,6 clips only 37.5 and y line H, Johnson '64 e Master sentative Union Life i-8228 Altman ’65 ;e Master sentative Union Life i-8228 Sticks eak, Special Safety Edition Cbe Battalion President Issues Holiday Message Volume 61 COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1965 Number 249 195 Predicted To During Holiday Period Will Ag Be In WILL, YOUR ROAD LEAD TO DEATH? Modem Autos No Match For Highway Creatures By ED SMITH It seems that Detroit, with all its emphasis on luxury and speed, has omitted some extremely func tional devices from the armament of its product. Today’s autos, built of ever-decreasing: thick nesses of tin, are simply not meant for night driving on our animal-infested highways. The railroads met and solved the problem years ago. With the introduction of the cow catcher, the railroads greatly reduced the hazards of a collision with ani mals that wandered onto the tracks. This simple contraption, when added to the front of the Appeal Issued To Students AUSTIN—The Texas Safety Association Wednesday issued its annual appeal to university and college students to “set-the-pace” for traffic safety during the Christmas holiday period. “Thousands of young drivers in the state will be starting ‘back home’ prior to the heaviest traffic rush at Christmas,” J. O. Musick, TSA general manager said. “These drivers can set an ex ample for other holiday travelers by reaching their destinations safely.” Music reminded students to give motor vehicles a good safety check before getting out on the road. “And, don’t overload your car with paskages or jassengers. Don’t pile books, clothes or pack ages so high in the back seat of your car that the rear view window is blocked. If you must hang clothing in the car, make sure you have outside rear view mirrors,” he said. In closing, Musick further ad vised students to get plenty of sleep before starting trips and to take several rest stops along the way. “If possible, alternate with otb«r driven. Jt’s much less tiring and a great deal safer.” locomotive, eliminated countless railway accidents. A train can safely chug through the night and, if by chance some retarded bovine wanders in its path, the train keeps on going and some rancher gets another tax deduction. Automobiles are an entirely different thing. You pull a similar stunt in your car and — POW — one dead cow and a $600 repair bill. Texas abounds with hundreds of night-crawling, night-feeding animals of every description. Most of them seem to lack the good sense to stay off the high ways. As if by some natural calling, these insomniac fur- bearers converge on the high ways to while away their sleep less hours. Those who have ever taken a long automobile trip with a small child know that they eagerly peer, hang, lean and sometimes fall out of cars trying to get a glimpse of some woodland crea ture, during the daytime. They seldom see any. Generally, the poor frustrated kid wears him self out and by nightfall he’s conked out on the back seat. As soon as he closes his eyes and drifts off, as if by some prearranged signal, every sort of animal converges on the highway, sending the poor driver into a series of evasive tactics that any jet pilot would envy. If this unfortunate driver is at the wheel of a Cadillac or a big Olds he’s got a pretty good chance of making it to his destin ation with nothing more than a trashed out front end. But if he is unfortunate enough to be push ing one of the highly popular imported midget suicide wagons, he would be lucky to make it through at all. It’s easy to clobber an animal on the highway at night. They seem to cooperate. There are two kinds of reactions from our forest friends when they are suddenly faced with a pair of glaring head lights. Some, generally the larg er ones, simply ignore your pre sence. The cud-chewers are fore most in this group. They stand there and dare you to run over them. It seems that they know full well that you can’t hit them without tearing up your car. This type seems to be put there to prepare you for the sec ond group. For by the time you stop, get out of your car, gradu ally coax them off the road and get chased back to your car by one you didn’t know was a bull, you have lost time. This preci ous time, you naturally feel has got to be made up. So off you go in a cloud of dust, laying rubber for a half a mile, and about the time you reach 90, you meet your second problem. This type is a lot like the American female — it can’t seem to make up its mind what to do. You first see it at 200 yards, it’s moving to your right. — you’re OK — opps! — look again at 150 yards it’s turned around and is making a left and at 100 yards it’s just standing there look ing at you. At 50 yards it’s in motion again; seems like its’ gonna make a right — no — a left — POW! In cases like this it’s handy to have a card with your insurance man’s telephone number on it. This is the type I encountered about halfway between Bryan and Huntsville about a month ago. I’m still looking for a lower bid for the repair work. In the meantime I’ve got a buddy who’s kind enough to drive me to school in the mornings. There are two possible anti dotes for the type of accidents under discussion. One, we can get up a petition for cow catchers on cars and send it to Detroit; or two, we can try to keep our speed down to a reasonable level. The petition would take too much time to produce results that might save an Aggie’s life over the Christmas holidays but the second possibility is easily within reason. Don’t let yourself be come a casualty of some deer's self declared “people season.” Slow down, do it, and maybe you will live. KK Chief Powell Urges Auto Safety “Take it into consideration it might be you that will be killed. Do not always think it will be someone else,” said Ed Powell, Chief of Campus Security. Drive according to the traffic conditions, the weather condi tions, and the road conditions. Just because the speed limit sign may say 70 m.p.h., do not take a chance if the road is wet. Also, be careful of ice and snow on the road and on bridges. Toll? AUSTIN — Past experience indicates some 110 persons will be killed in traffic accidents during the 10-day Christmas- New Year’s holiday period, it was reported by Col. Homer Gar rison, Director of the Texas De partment of Public Safety. Garrison said in addition to the grim traffic death projection Statistical Services, it is also estimated that there will be 43 homicides and suicides and 42 deaths from accidents other than traffic, for a total violent death toll of 195. “We would like to appeal once again to the driving public to join us in an all-out effort to cut down on this terrible toll, particularly in traffic where ob servance of traffic laws and rules of safety can actually do some thing about it,” the DPS director said. In an effort to call attention to the dangers involved in holi day travel, the DPS will conduct its annual “Operation Death- watch” during the 10-day period. From 12:01 a.m. Dec. 24 (Christ mas Eve) through 11:59 p.m. Jan. 2, violent deaths will be tabulated and the totals announced three times daily from the department headquarters in Austin. “We will also have every avail able patrolman on duty,” Garri son said. “These men are on the road to protect and serve the citizens of this state. In addition to the highway patrol, there will be some 150 extra patrolmen from other DPS uniformed serv ices on duty.” During last year’s Christmas- New Year’s holiday period, a total of 228 persons died violent ly. Of these, 128 were killed in traffic. RUDDERS’ MESSAGE Mrs. Rudder and I wish the faculty, staff and students of Texas A&M a joyous holiday. We hope this will be a season of appreciation for your families and friends and one of thanksgiving- for the blessing we have received. We hope that good judgment and caution by everyone will prevent needless tragedy during this season for rejoicing. Earl Rudder, President Texas A&M New Road Marker Safety Features Make Difference AUSTIN — Just fifteen hours may have spelled the difference between life and death for a League City driver and his pas senger last month, State High way Engineer D. C. Greer said today. The driver’s car struck both supports of a 5-by-6-foot free way exit sign after having been crowded off the road by a truck during a blinding rainstorm. Time of the accident was 6:30 a.m. Nov. 4 — just 15 hours after a Texas Highway Department crew had completed modification of the sign supports in line with a new safety program. Neither occupant of the car Today’s Battalion Last Until 1966 This is the last issue of The Battalion for 1965. Our next publication date is Jan. 4, 1966. The staff wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and urges you to drive carefully to and from home. See you in 1966. Accident Photographers Believe In Safety Cliches By GUS De La GARZA Have you heard of the “suicide squad?” It’s a team of photog raphers who volunteer their serv ices to take pictures of highway accidehts. Their goal is to make people realize that cars can and will kill you. They are staunch supporters of such well-worn clinches as “slow down and live” and “. . . if you drink, don’t drive.” As proof of their support, they have produced several films, one entitled “Death on the Highway.” Once you’ve seen it you’ll never forget it. The method of presen tation is very simple and very direct . . . the after math of a wreck before the ambulance gets there. The film starts with the omni- mous wail of siren racing in the darkness to an accident. The nar rator, whose weary voice reflects the endless misery and suffering he has seen caused by needless wrecks, says accidents are never pretty. The scene that follows his words shows a man who wrapped his car around a telephone pole. The door on the driver's side is wrenched from its hinges and the man is slumped on the floor board with his head firmly welded to the inside edge of the door; his eyes are slightly bugged out and his brains are oozing out. The narrator’s monotonous voice tells you the man had been drinking. How would you like to be in this man’s place? . . . “if you drink, don’t drive.” Again the wail of a siren; an other accident. This time, the narrator says, three cars were involved and eight people killed . . eight healthy people whose lives were snuffed out in the span of a few seconds. The road was straight, the weather was clear and bright, but there is the twisted, burning wreckage of three cars. A farmer who witnessed the carnage said all three cars were travelling at a high rate of speed—the dead people are mute testimony to his statement. The odor of burnt human flesh fills the clean countryside air. All the bodies have been pulled out of the wreckage and are awaiting the hearse. Remember this scene . . . “slow down and live.” Another accident, another death and once more the mounrful wail of a siren. What you see are the pitiful remains of a once-beauti- ful girl. A young man and his girl out on the town had one too many. The young man lost con trol and the car turned over once before slamming into a brick wall. The narrator asks to look at the once beautiful girl again. Both arms and legs have been completely severed from her body. There is her torso and half her head gone . . . her blond hair matted with blood and. brains. Imagine how the young man must feel—he lived. Think of your girl friend . . . “if you drink, don’t drive.” Death never rests. Once more the wail of a siren. The narrator repeats accidents are never pret ty. This one is especially grue some. A car slammed into a truck carrying gasoline and both ex ploded. Both drivers were killed. The bodies were horribly charred. The driver of the car had been speeding on a slippery highway. Think of your Mom and Dad and how they will react when they receive a telephone call or when a state trooper rings the door bell . . . “slow down and live.” The film ends with the wail of sirens. Once more the narrator says “. . . another accident, an other death.” Don’t shrug and say it'll never happen to me because you have just as little immunity to getting killed on the highway as the people depicted in the film. They were immune until a few seconds before the moment of impact. “Slow down and live” and “ . . . if you drink don’t drive” are well- worn clinches but if you don’t heed them, don’t worry—you’ll never hear the wailing of the siren or feel the cold marble slab at the morgue. was injured, and the vehicle itself sustained only $500 damages. Almost exactly a year earlier — before the modifications built in new safety features in the sign supports — another car col lided with the same sign. The driver was killed instantly. The structure originally was built with rigid supports, each connected to a concrete founda tion by means of a base plate welded to the post and secured by four anchor bolts. Highway Department workers the day prior to the recent acci dent dismantled the sign and in stalled special slip joints and hinges. When the League City man’s car struck the supports, the slip joints parted and the supports hinged up and away from the car harmlessly while the car rolled on to a more controlled stop. Engineers said the main part of the damage was caused when the vehicle sideswiped a small, rigid “Do Not Enter” sign. The modifications on the sup ports were made as the result of more than two years of intensive research conducted cooperatively by the Texas Highway Depart ment and the Texas Transporta tion Institute at Texas A&M Uni versity. The investigation into break away signs also has attracted the attention of the U. S. Bureau of Public Roads and at least 14 oth er states, which have contributed to continuing the research. During the studies, engineers crashed more than 40 surplus automobiles into experimental signs erected at the Texas A&M Research Annex near Bryan. All the tests at the research center were with unmanned cars, using a tow car to propel the test cars into the signs at speeds up to 60 miles per hour. The mishap near Winnie in November was the first “man ned” test of the new supports. The driver reported the jolt on striking the supports was com parable with “hitting a chuck- hole in the pavement.” The driver also added his own “I like break-away signs be cause” testimonial to a letter written to Highway Department engineers. “Many thanks for the new type sign,” he wrote. “If it had been one of the old type, we undoubt edly would have gone through the windshield or turned over. As it was, no injury to me or friend . . .” The Highway Department thinks it has a workable sign, one that will save lives, Greer said. “But we don’t consider this the ‘ultimate sign.’ Our research will continue at the Texas Trans portation Institute to improve on the present design and to explore other possibilities.” Greer noted that in 1964, more than 220 Texans died in collisions with fixed objects.