The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1935-10-10

West jefferson, has ordered some Of
these reprints and has distributed
them in various parts of the county.
-EDITOR.)
Publicizing the total of motoring
injuries -almost a million last year,
with, p. 600 @deaths--neyer gets to
first base in =jarFing the rnotorist in
to realization Of the appalling risks
of motoring. He does not. translate
dry statistics into a reality of blood
and agony.
Figures exclude the pain and hor-
ror Of savage mutilation-which
means they leave out the point. They
need to be brought close home. A
passing look at bad smash or the
news that fellow you had lunch with
last week is in a hospital with brok-
en- back will make any driver but a
born fool slow down at least tempo
rarily. But what is needed is a vivid
and sustained realization that every
time you step on the throttle, death
gets In beside you, hopefully waiting
for his chance. That single horrible
accident you may have witnessed is
no isolated horror. That sort of thing
happens every hour Of the day, every
where in the United States. If you
really felt that, perhaps the cold lines
Of type in Mondays paper recording
that total Of 20 local citizens were
killed in weekend crashes would rate
something more than perfunctory
tut-tut as you turn back to the sports
page.
An enterprising Judge now and
again sentences reckless drivers to
tour the accident end of a city
morgue. But even mangled body on
slab, waxily portraying the conse-
quences of bad motoring judgment,
isn't patch On the scene Of the acci-
dent itself. No artist working on a
safety poster would dare depict that
in full detail.
That picture would have to include
motion-picture and sound effects, too
the Hopping, pointless efforts of
the injured to stand up; the queer
grunting noises; the steady, painting
grooming of human being with pain
creeping up on him as the shock
wears off. It should portray the slack
expression on the face of man,
drugged with shock, staring at the
Z-twist in his broken leg, the insane
crumpled effect of a child's body af-
ter it's bones are crushed inward, a
realistic portait Of an hysterical wom-
an with her screaming mouth opening
a hole in the bloody drip that fills her
eyes and runs off her chin. Minor
details would include the raw ends of
bones protruding through flesh in
compound fractures, and the dark
red, oozing surfaces where clothes
and skin were flayed off at once.
Those are all standard, everyday
sequels to the modern passion for
going places IN a hurry and taking a
chance or two by the way. If ghosts
could be put to a useful purpose,
every bad stretch Of road in the Unit
ed States would greet the oncoming
motorist with groans and screams
and the educational spectacle of ten
or dozen corpses, all sizes, sexes
lend ages, lying horribly: still on the
bloody grass s.
Last yearsa state trooper of my
acquaintance stopped a big red His
psao, for speeding. Papa was obvious
| ~ a responsible person, obviously set
for q pleasant weekend with his
family-so the officer cut into papa s
well-bred expostulations: "I'll let you
off this time, but if you keep on this
way, you won't last long. Get going
but take it easier" Later a passing
lmotorist hailed the trooper and asked
if the red Hispano had got a ticket,
mo-" said the trooper, II hated to
spoil their party" "Too bad you
didn't" said the motorist, II saw you
stop them-and then I passed that
4 car again so miles up the line. It still
makes me feel sick at nay stomach
The car all folded up like an accordi-
on-the color was about all there was
left. They were all dead but one Of
the kids-and he wasn't going to live
to the hospital
Il Maybe it will make you sick at
your stomach, too. But unless you're