Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1946-08-20
Letters to The Star
Describes the Natural Dynamics
OF Motor Collisions

y
Of Motor Collisions
To the Editor of The Star:
AS one of the readers of The .Sar and
a resident in the Washington Metropoli-
tan Area, I have been deeply concerned
about the mounting toll of automobile
accidents. We lose just about as many
dead through traffic accidents every year
as in war losses for the same period
of time. The injured and those manned
for life constitute serious drain on our
precious manpower.
We erect memorials to our honored
dead who defended our liberties. We
turn one-time battlefields into ceme-
teries, with rows upon rows of crosses.
And we choose an Unknown Soldier,
known only to God" and revere his
memory. But what is being done to
memorabilia those who bravely sally
forth in the morning to earn their daily
bread. and at night are carried home
injured to an anxious family?
What causes accidents? The reasons
are many: Faulty brakes or other equip
ment, speeding, drinking, inattention,
failure to obey traffic rules, the OTHER
fellows identical failures, faulty eye
sight, weather conditions-rain, sleet
or snow and fog. The hazards are multi
pie, the armor is slight. A driver must
be brave man, just to fight his way
through daily traffic.
The Star is to be congratulated for
showing traffic rules in graphic form en-
titled only One Try" Furthermore the
table of stopping Distances" which
shows that 'it takes time to stop carr
is very important. All this brings up
the very important question of the ter
rifle force played by momentum. A law
of mechanics in the realm of physics
states that momentum is "the quantity
of motion in moving body, being al
ways proportioned to the mass multi
piled into the velocity"
Does the average driver know what
this means? Some do, others do not,
and a few may have hazy idea about
the subject. One needs only to see
collision to know that tremendous
force results from hitting a tree or a
POLE but when two cars collide head
on at about equal speed the result is
practically complete wreckage and
death to the occupants.
Let's assume that a car weighs IL
tons, roughly 5000 pounds, with the
short ton of 1000 pounds as our base
You are travelling at so miles an hour
According to the laws of momentum
your car is being hurled along by its
engine with moving force of 1873 feet
per second, times IL tons, which
equals 10995 tons of linear momentum
per second. If you hit an object going at
that speed, your car will wrap itself
around concrete pillar, or demolish
brick wall, crash through a house, and
you or your insurance company have
bill to pay If you escape alive you are
among the fortunate few, assuming that
you still have a lengthy time studying
scenery from a hospital bed.
Again carrying out comparison of
what happens in head-on collision:
This time moving car, also travelling so
miles an hour, is coming toward you.
You can't avoid the car out of control.
1t also has about ITO tons of force built
up to hit you squarely on the nose.
Your car is rolling along with those 10
tons of pressure. The two cars crash
into each other with total force which
has double its impact: In other words
this time it is 220 tons of striking power.
Are you sure you want to buy new
car with greater horsepower?
Who can resist such collision? Why,
nobody, unless Providence is there to
intervene, and a praying driver. Now
consider what happens when the vehicle
weighs many more tons. The law of
mechanics is always proportional.
Next time you step on the gas, think
things over.
When you drive a car, lives are at
stake-your own, your passengers and
others along the highway. If you can't
drive right, don't drive at ALL
CHARLES ALLEN RENTFRO.