Safety Door Locks, Seat Belts Said
To Save Thousands in Auto Collisions
Tuesday. February 26, 19S7
MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNB FIVE
DST IPQDSfa (BOW
Fdltor'i note: Followtn If thp ir-1
and of five article dealing with trtej
problem of auto accident on the na-1
bona highways.
BY ROBERT J. SERLING
United Preii Correspondent
New York (U.R) Thousands
of American motorists have been
saved from serious injury or
death by two safety devices
i which the automobile industry
began to install on new cars last
year.
One now standard equip-;
ment on all new cars is the so-j
called "safety door lock." These, j
locks are designed to keep doors
from popping open in accidents.
They cost about 50 cents a door.
The other, offered as optional
equipment on new cars, is the
seat belt.
Have these two iteams belts
and door locks saved lives and
prevented injuries?
"Yes" is the answer from a
group which should know Cor
nell University Medical Col
lege's auto crash research in
jury project. For months, the
project has been studying de
tailed accident reports filed by I
police officials in twelve states.
These reports provide a con
trast between accidents in cars
equipped with the new safety
features, and accidents of com-
parable severity in cars without
these features.
This is what the record shows:
Seat Bells
1. Occupants in cars with
safety belts had 60.4 per cent
fewer injuries of all degrees.
2. )ccupants with belts had
80 per cent fewer injuries in
the moderate-to-fatal injury
grade category.
8. Occupants with belt had
fewer dangerous-to-fatal grade
injuries, but the difference was
"not satistically significant due
to insufficient data."
Door Locks
rjl- Reduced the risk of doors
opening during impact by as
much as 33 per cent in non-rollover
accidents and somewhat
less in rollovers.
2. Decreased the risk of oc
cupant ejection through open
doors by up to 49 per cent.
3. Reduced the risk of danger
ous and fatal injuries by 29 per
cent primarily the result of re
taining passengers in the protect
tive shell of the car.
Both belts and door locks are
aimed primarily at preventing
ejection from cars. Ejection as
a major cause of automotive
crash injuries came as a surprise
to many experts who figured
that what happened inside the
car was the biggest factor in
causing injuries.
But the Cornell project since
1953 has studied more than
Q
8.000 separate accidents. It
found that ejection is one of the
most frequently reported causes
of injury, accounting for 20 per
cent of injuries and deaths. The
other major injury-causing com
ponents; Instrument panel 12 per cent
Steering wheel 11 per cent.
Windshield 11 per cent.
Door components six per
cent.
Some safety experts have
criticized seat bells, claiming
that they can cause as many in
juries as they prevent and they
are not of appreciable value in
preventing occupants from be
ing thrown forward. The Cornell
findings appear to refute such
charges.
Boris Tourin, supervisor of
technical operations for the Cor
nell project, says critics of belts
"'ignore that their prime respon
sibility is to keep occupants
from being thrown out of the
car."
Lack of Logic
"VV'heii someone says belts are
not good because they're only
60 per cent effective," adds
Tourin, "that's like condemning
a serum because it ciyes only
50 per cent of the patients. We
saw one report denouncing a belt
that didn't hold when the car
hit a parked steamroller at 40
miles an hour. Actually belts
are less effective in accidents in
volving collision with fixed ob
jects, but such collisions repre
sent less than 15 per cent of
highway accidents." .
According to Tourin, some
published reports on the alleged
ineffectiveness of belts have in
volved inferior belts, manufac
tured far below the minimum
standards set by scientific tests.
"Many inferior belts on the
market are giving all belts a bad
name," says Tourin. "A good
belt will do the job expected of
it except in unusually severe ac
cidents at terrifically high
speeds. One of the things we
may have to study is whether it
wouldn't be a good idea to have
a 'breaking force' in a belt al
lowing it to snap at a certain for
ward force to prevent the belt
itself from causing injury."
Faulty Belts
The Cornell project, in its stu
dues of belt performance in act
ual accidents, bluntly reports it
has found "increasing evidence
of irresponsibility both in belt
manufacture and installation."
Project director John O. Moore
believes all belt manufacturers
should be forced to adhere to
minimum standards for belt con
struction, just as electrical equip
ment manufacturers now com
ply with industry-established
standards.
Moore also recommends:
1. ftesearch to determine
whether stronger belts are need
ed. There is evidence to indicate
that deceleration forces in an
automobile accident are greater
than those in a light plane crash.
Many car belts are patterned
after CAA aviation belt stand
ards for private planes.
2. Some kind of auxiliary de
vice for pre-1956 cars, to keep
doors from opening on impact.
Belt can be attached to any car,
but only 1956 and '57 models
have the new-type door locks
deemed assential ' to passenger
protection.
The next dispatch in this se
ries will discuss a controversy
over automible structure. Is the
modern car loo flimsy? Is the
popular hardtop style really
safe? Have manufacturers thin
ned corner posts and roof struc
ture so much as to make cars as
weak-skinned as an egg?
Measure To Set Up
Community Colleges
Introduced in House
Salem (U.R) Two-year com-1
munity colleges could be set up I
in many areas of the state under
terms of a bill introduced in the
Oregon House yesterday by 26 1
representatives and 17 of the I
state's 30 senators.
The bill house bill 593 pro
vides that school district or sev
eral adjacent districts whose
cash value exceeds $20 million
and who have 500 students or
more in grades 9 to 12 can set up
a community college with ap
proval of the State Board of
Education and a vote of local
people.
purvey Called for
A two-year survey of the en
tire state by the Board of Educa
tion to determine community
college needs and possible col
lege district boundaries is called
for by the bill. Results of the
survey would be presented to the
1959 legislature.
Rep. Pat Dooley, Portland,
speaker of the house, said the
bill would be assigned to a com
mittee today.
Proposed colleges would share
in state basic school support
funds except for reimburse
ments for busing or boarding
students.
Ten per cent of the voters of
a school district could initiate
action in starting a community
college. Their request would be
investigated by the superintend
ent of public instruction before
approval would be given.
Representative Named
Signing the bill were Reps.
Ole Grubb, Bend Democrat;
George Analla, Hood River Dem
ocrat Carl Back, Sixes Demo
crat; Clarence Barton, Coquille
Democrat; H. H. Chindgren. Mo
lalla Republican; Vernon Cook,
Gresham Democrat; Robert Dun-
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crat; William Grenfell Jr., Port
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strom, Gearhart Democrat: Nor
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Katherine Musa. The Dalles
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Senate Signers Named
Also signing were Sens. Harry
Boivin, Klamath Fallsh Dem
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Democrat; Ward Cook, Portland
Democrat; Alfred Corbett, Port
1 a n d Democrat; Dan Dimick,
Roseburg Democrat; Carl Fran
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Gill, Lebanon Republican; G. D.
Gleason, Portland D e m o c rat;
Dwight Hopkins, Ibler Demo
crat; Jean Lewis, Portland Dem
ocrat; Ben Musa, The Dalles
Democrat; Boyd Overhule, Mad
ras Democrat: Walter Pearson,
Portland Democrat; Leader Quir
ing, Hermiston Republican; Mon
roe Sweetland, Portland Dem
ocrat; Daniel Thil, Astoria Dem
ocrat; and Anthony Yturri, On
tario Republican.
Cop Killer Added To
FBI'S 'Wanted' List
Washington ' (U.R) The
FBI has added the name of
George Edward Cole, an ex-convict
sought in the "cold-blooded
slaying" of a San Francisco po
liceman, to its list of 10 most
wanted fugitives.
The FBI warned that Cole is
armed with a powerful .357
Magnum pistol and is extreme
ly dangerous. He has said he
would shoot any officer who
tried to capture him.
"Violent crime is nothing new
to this 29-year-old gunman," the
FBI said. Cole's crime career
began when he went AWOL
from the Army in 1945. He serv
ed a sentence for first degree
robbery at San Quentin prison
from 1948 to 1951.
Cole is wanted in connection
with the killing of an off-duty
police officer in a tavern in San
Francisco's "Tenderloin" district
on Dec. 30, 1956.
Washington (U.R) President
Eisenhower has nominated Am
ory Houghton, chairman of the
board of the Corning, N.Y., Glass
Works, as new ambassador to
France.
Court Records
MUNICIPAL COCRT
Alphonso Chavez, no operator's li
cense. S5.
Clarence B. Black, failure to yield
right of way, S10.
Donald Parker McNeil, failure to
yield right of way $3-
Russel Lee Howard, violation of
basic rule, S10.
mi am s eis uanistrom, xoiiowing
too close. S10.
James Waller Gordon, violation of
basic rule, S10.
Glenn Dimmett Martin, failure to
stop at stop sign, $5.
Michael James Kaiser, no tail light,
$5.
Richard Earl Sprague, violation of
basic rule. S10.
Herzog Herbert, failure to stop at
traffic signal. S3.
James W. Liek, violation of basic
rule. $10.
Hers hall L. Mooney. permitting un
licensed operator to operate vehicle,
sio.
Lloyd Keller, failure to stop at stop
sign, S3.
Maxine Estelle Yates, failure to stop
at red light, S3.
Don Blankenship, violation of basic
rule. $10.
Orval Lawrence Butler, failure to
stop at red light, S3.
DISTRICT COURT
Dale Allen McCay, one headlight,
$10. bail forfeited.
David Dale Boatwright. defective
tail light. S3: defective horn. $5.
Ralph Floyd Champion, operating a
vehicle in excess o weight limita
tion. $193.
Jim Seth Cunningham, failure to
stop at stop sign, S10.
CIRCUIT COURT
Charles E. Watson vs. Winifred Wat
son, divorce complaint.
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