Evening star., 1937-04-11
SEASONS HAZARDS
IN MOTORING SEEN
Carbon Monoxide Gas Held
One of Greatest Dangers
Confronting Drivers.
BY MRS. GEORGE C. THORPE,

BY MRS. GEORGE c. THORPE,
| Chairman of the Women's Safety Commit
tee: District of Columbia Motor Club.
| American Automobile Association
| and Safety Counselor of Com
munity CenterS.
1 believe you will agree with me, no
form of transportation, except, Of
| course, aviation, is more directly af-
fected by weather conditions than is
motoring. To say that there are Ger
tain seasonal hazards and many mis-
| conceptions with regard to them is to
err decidedly on the side of under
statement. The general motoring
| public Is, actually, so far from a
proper realization of the effect of such
conditions, that it makes but COM
paratively few corresponding driving
adjustments, with, as statistics indi-
cate, disastrous results So thorough
ly convinced is the average motoriSt,
for example, that January, February
and March offer the greatest skid
hazards, that he fails to take into
account the innocent-looking leaves
which strew the wet streets and pave
mentS in october, which sends more
cars careening off the road into
bitches than any other month in the
year. Not, of course, that the sheets
of ice, which at times overspread
Washington, are to be dealt with
lightly. But their peril is so obvious
that it is a case of being foreWarned
is being forearmed.
Two Dangers Arise.
But perhaps the two dangers most
closely associated with weather condi-
tions and most insidiously treacherous
arise from the not unnatural instinct,
as the thermometer drops. to close car
windows and garage doors. Obviously,
to drive through congested thorough
fares with the left window closed, as
traffic observers report SO per cent of
the motorists do in Winter and rs per
cent in Summer, is to jeopardiZe the
general public. If there is any virtue
in hand signals, they should be more
effcacious in Winter than in Summer
The motorist evidently trusts to low
ering his window after the emergency
arises. But what apparently SO per
cent of our motorists and their fellow
passengers ignore is the fact that
closing the car windows creates an
almost hermetically sealed chamber
the tonneau of the car-into which
creeps one of the most insidious and
fatal gases known, and that with the
stealth of a shadow of the jungle. I
refer to carbon monoxide. What SO
per cent of the motorists also ignore Is
that investigation has shown that l
car in every 20 driven on our high
ways Is found to contain carbon
monoxide, concentrated to the danger
point. A direct avenue of entrance
from its source into the tonneau ex-
lists through the heater, through the
loose boards in the floor, through
broken or cracked gasket, and by clos
ing the windows of the car the motor
iSt has provided a sealed chamber into
which gas may be pumped with every
revolution Of the engine. The fact
that DEATH disseminating gas is not
discernible to the senses; that it has
neither color, taste nor smell; that its
presence is recognized only after its
dire effects are far under way does
not lessen its treachery. Inhaled into
the lungs, it exhibits an affinity for
the red corpuscles of the blood 300
times greater than oxygen.
The heart is driven to greater effort,
the blood pressure increases, dizziness
ensues, and eventually the victim
looses his prehensile touch. His fin
gers no longer grasp firmly the steer
ing wheel, which slips through his
hands, catapulting him and his car
against the nearest obstruction. So
frequently have cars strewn the road
side, when neither traffic nor the
road surface seem to have been re-
sponsible, that some authorities have
made bold to say that circumstances
indicate that in S out of 10 accidents
carbon monoxide gas seems to have
been responsible. AS little as four
parts of carbon monoxide in 10000
parts OF air cause the initial symptoms
of drowsiness and headache. Our
Army and Navy Air Service now desig-
mates one-half part carbon monoxide
in 10000 parts of air as the upper
limit for airplane cabin.
Closed Garage Menace.
The closed garage and the running
engine offer a real danger. The
single private garage contains about
1000 cubic feet of air. The exhaust
from a four-cylinder car running with
properly adjusted carburetor will
generate about three cubic feet of car
bon monoxide each minute. Running
for three minutes with garage doors
closed, 1t will bring the content Of
carbon monoxide in this garage to
over one-fifth of one per cent, or that
point Immediately fatal to man.
Nor is its effects limited to the
actual occupants Of the gas-laden cars
and garages. DR.. William J. Hale In
his recent publication, Prosperity
Beckons," observes when there were
few cars upon our highways, there
was little fear of the waste carbon
monoxide attaining dangerous pro-
portions. Today, in busy thorough
fare, es Fifth avenue in New York
City, as much as two to three parts
of carbon monoxide In 10000 parts
OF air are found during the rush hours