Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-10-03
PATROL CHIEFTAN
MAKES ANALYSIS
OF ROAD DEATHS
RESULTING IN FATALITIES
ARE STUDIED
BY CHARLES L. SHERIDAN
Supervisor, Montana Highway Patrol

Reams have been written in the
newspapers. magazines and periodicals
of the country on the growing toll of
lives, limb and property as a result
OF automobile accidents on our high
ways. High officials in our national,
state and municipal governments and
public spirited men everywhere have
discussed this problem that is facing
our modern civilization. The radios the
pulpits. the newspapers and all means
of dissemination of information TO the
public have carried warnings against
bad driving practices upon our high
ways. Still the slaughter goes on!
Upon my return to the office from
a two-week absence, during which I
was attending a national safety insti-
tute conducted by the Northwestern
university at Berkeley. Calf. I found
on my desk reports covering accidents
which had taken - lives during my
absence and it has occurred to me
that an analysis of these accidents.
finding out their causes and how they
could be prevented, might be of inter-
est to the public and might be in
structive to the people of Montana
Sleep Caused Death
No. l covers the death OF a young
man near Billings, whose death &C.
CURED when he was thrown out of the
door of the truck, which had gone off
the road and hit the bank The cor
oners inquest drew forth the fact that
the truck was hauling two new cars
from Flint, Mich, to a point in the
state of Washington: that the driver
had picked up the young fellow who
was riding with him in Flint and had
offered him a ride to the coast in
exchange for his services as relief
driver. The inquest also drew forth
the information that these boys had
stopped to sleep only a couple of times
during the trip and that neither of
them had been in bed for more than
70 hours. What sleep they had gotten
had been by the medium of one of
them mapping in the seat while the
other drove The direct cause of the
accident was that the driver went to
sleep, ran off the road, hitting the
bank with such force that the side
door was thrown open and the Sleep
ing boy thrown out. No one needs to
find out the cause of this accident
No one should drive a car to the point
of exhaustion, but the tragic part of
it was that a young mans life was
snuffed out: young man % years of
age with all of his life before him, and
this could have been prevented had
they taken only a reasonable care OF
themselves during the trip.
Didn't See Train
The second accident occurred when
a farm couple were returning from a
small town to their ranch some mile
and a half distant After leaving the
town they ran parallel with the rail-
way tracks the entire distance and
turned into their own farm lane just
a few hundred yards from their home,
where the farm lane crossed the rail-
road track. Apparently the driver of
the car never looked back to see if
was coming on the track. The
visibility was good and vision clear for
a mile each way, but he drove onto
the railroad track and both he and
his wife were killed. These people left
a family of four youngsters, the oldest
boy of l6, who is now trying to carry
on with the farm and care for the
younger brothers and sisters. No
amount of law enforcement can pre-
vent thing of this kind The only
thing that can possibly prevent people
from driving on the railroad tracks
without pausing to see whether the
tracks are clear is to pound home to
the public that such practice is dan
gerous. We have had a dozen people
killed in Montana already this year
under similar circumstances. The moral
is stop, look and listen" before you
drive onto railroad track
The third accident occurred on a
gravel road in one of the sparsely set
tied counties in the eastern end of
the state. A man, his wife and 6-year-
old daughter were involved. When the
car reached the top of the hill it went
careening down the other side at
high rate of speed, going into the
ditch and turning over before it came
to rest some 900 feet from where it
first left the road. A hay crew, work.
ing in nearby field, rushed over to
give what assistance they could. and
upon their arrival found the man dead.
the woman unconscious and the little
girl with broken leg but still con-
Scious. Her first statement was that
Daddy was driving awfully fast and
I was scared" The wife later regaining
consciousness said her husband was
driving about 10 miles an hour.
Toe Much Speed
Speed, that is the thing that kills.
If only our drivers could understand
that no speed is safe that is faster
than conditions warrant. Seventy miles
an hour on the average dirt or gravel
ir lev ~ Co
an hour is too fast for the average
driver A man might be reckless with
his own life but he has no right to
risk the lives of his wife and children
and other people driving on the high
ways. We must, in some way, pound
this home to the driving public; hold
your speed down to the safety margin
warranted by conditions at the time
and place you are driving.
The fourth accident occurred when
car lost a wheel ON a country road
in the eastern part Of the state. The
man at the wheel WAS a good driver