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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1957)
o ByC ttBDTOED (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE Monday, Ftbruarf 23, 1957 Cornell Researchers Study Causes of Injury, Death in Automobile Crashes Fdilor't note: Thlf It the flrU in ft srlt of five mrliAts on auto arri dnt. safety and prevention. Writ er Robert Serltng did renearrn work In New YorlL and Washington in preparing the leriei. By ROBERT SERLING Unilod Preit Correspondent New York UR At 12:02 m... Oct. 18, 1956, a 49-year-old Virginia farmer became a corpse in a county morgue and a statis tic in the nation's traffic toll. He died when hjs 1952 four door sedan hit a telephone pole. The accident was typical of a lot of others. But the way it was investigated was different. About four days later, a large envelope was delivered to 316 E. 61st St., New York City, address ed to the division of automotive crash injury research, Cornell University Medical College. It was signed by a Virginia state policeman. It told simply and graphically how the man died. The contents included six photographs of the death car, two interior, three exterior and a closeup of the dead driver. Also supplied were road condi tions, make and body style of the car, a complete description of damage to the vehicle, wheth eiddoors opened on impact, and a detailed report from the doc tor who examined the victim. Each description of injury was accompanied by a report on how it was sustained. Item: "Crushed chest from contact with steering wheel hub after collapse of spokes and lower rim." "There was a four inch lacera tion of forehead of victim caused by contact with flying wind shield glass." "Abrasions on left leg from contact with emergency brake handle." . "Large puncture in the right leg, like a gunshot wound, from contact with control dial on car radio." All these items were fed into humming statistical machines. The grisly details of a human tragedy became impersonal per forations in little cards, to be,j studied by the project's experts. Since -1953, the auto crash in jury research program has com piled such studies of more than 8,000 accidents, most of which involved injury or death. It is the only program of its kind, on such a large scale, in the United States. Help From 12 Stales , The sources are state police accident investigators and doc tors in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Indiana, Connecticut, Minnesota. Arizona. Texas. Ver mont, California, Pennsylvania and New York, plus the city of Minneapolis, Minn. They send in their reports on . special forms supplied by the project. From the data collected I these 8,000 accidents, Cornell re- ! searchers have learned that: Your chances of getting badly hurt or killed are greater if you are thrown out of a car than if you stay inside. The modern automobile is a reasonably strong container for its human occupants; most in juries or deaths are caused by the occupants getting tossed around inside or hurled com pletely out of the container. , Conclusion The Cornell research is not concerned with what causes an accident. Its emphasis is on the accident itself and how its in jury producing effects can be lessened. Here 'are some of their conclusions: 1. A seat belt, because it helps prevent both ejection from a car and violent movement within a car, can save lives and reduce the frequency and severity of injury. 2. Safety door locks, when, en gaged, will prevent doors from opening in crashes and will greatly reduce Injuries. Both seat belts and safety locks were introduced in the automobile industry in 1956. The project has been putting -special emphasis on accidents involving 1956 and '57 cars equipped with these features, comparing them with similar crashes of cars with out belts or safety locks. Compiling Other Data "We try," says technical super visor Boris Tourin, "to compare accidents of equal intensity oc curring under almost identical conditions, items as safety belts and door locks." The project also is compiling data on recessed steering wheels, and padded instrument panels and sunvisors. It is just begin ning to delve into a contro versial topic involving automo bile structural design whether the so-called "hardtop" styling is as safe as conventional two and four-door sedans. '- In tomorrow's article, Serling discusses safety door locks and seat belts. There are more than 2,000 varities of tulips, according to Dutch experts. Approximately 98 per cent of these spring- blooming flower bulbs come from Holland. Union Financial Records Missing Washington (U.R) Robert F. Kennedy, counsel for the Senate Labor Racketeering committee discosed Friday that financial records of the Teamsters Union are missing from files of the union's Portland office. The asseration by Kennedy came on the heels of- a warning that a year in jail may await anyone who destroys union rec ords which the Senate commit tee has subpoenaed. Earlier Kennedy and Commit tee Chairman Sen. John L. Mc Clellan said that financial rec ords of deals between Teamster Union President Dave Beck and one of his top lieutenants were missing1 and apparently destroy ed. McClellan said some records which the committee wanted have vanished from the files of the Western Conference of Teamsters in Seattle. .A union attorney in Chicago answered that they had been inadvertently destroyed when the basement of the union head quarters was being cleaned out. AN OSCAR CANDIDATE? ' Hollywood U.R) "Jasper" was the most difficult actor to film when his scenes in "The Spirit of St. Louis" were made. He required 4,200 stand-ins, some of whom gave their lives on the job. Jasper" is the hitch hiking horse fly which accom panied Lindberg on part of his historic flight. Four Bodies Found In Plane Wreckage Seoul U.P.) Four more bodies were recovered today irom the wreckage of a crashed U. S. Air Force C124 Globe master, bringing the official death toll to nine- in Friday's crash. Thirteen persons still were missing and presumed dead for a total of 22 dead and missing. The huge plane crashed Fri day night on a Han river sand bar with 159 passengers and crewmen aboard. Two of the 137 survivors were taken of the criti cal list today at the 121st Evacu ation hospital.-The others escap ed with minor injuries. BUY for LESS! Silver is found to be the best conductor of electricity. CHECK FORD TICKETS NOW! NUMBERS POSTED FEB. 20 FOR 7 DAYS PRINTED LIST AVAILABLE Beck's THwuUttf 'P'ledl Bale eries a local industry, satisfying local appetites for the past 30 years .flT ALE STORM v v AND CHARLES FAR R ELL each TUESDAY at 5:30 p.m. KBES-TV KOTI-TV ,EPr-' ;' ''"'""'''-Tw, ' Vh'. 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