Milford chronicle., 1956-04-13
WASHINGTON LETTER
What Are We Waiting For?


The fairly vital question of How
fast is too fast?" is no longer
problem of highway construction
or of automotive design, of horse
power or brake effectiveness. It's
gotteE e-ay beyond that into the
speculative realm of the human
mechanism and its responses.
AS matters stand, the car can
take considerably more than the
driver. Hence, the differing notions
of what speed limits should be: go
miles an hour on the New Jersey
and Pennsylvania Turnpikes. 65 on
the new Ohio Turnpike and SIS on
most Of our other super-highways.
On modern, s'troubie-free' roads.
with wide-swept curves, gentle
grades and exceptional range of
vision, the steady, uninterrupted
pace keeps creeping up somehow
as the unaccustomed sense of Sc
curity slows down the refexes. AS
the minutes and the miles go by,
the sense of speed diminishes, and
with it the awareness of how rapid
ly slower vehicles are overtaken,
and of the distance required for
stopping.
Highway hypnosis, they call it.
And at night the conditions are
magnified, complicated by oncom-
ing headlights and roadside shad-
ows. "Night-vision" varies widely
among drivers, and the same per-
sons night-vision may be excellent
or poor, depending on his state OF
health.
! But, day or night, if vehicle on
the road up ahead is presumed to
be. moving when it. is actually
stopped, the scene is set for trag-
edy. The very instant a car or truck
or bus Is disabled on busy high
speed highway, that vehicle should
be so distinguished. Too many
truck drivers, for instance, have
been killed by oncomfng traffic
while in the act of putting out or
taking i'm the pot torches, red
electric lanterns or portable reflec-
tors required by law. And in the
case of a passenger car disabled
on the highway, where the law re-
qasres no protective devices, the
peril is equally great
/ The fact Is, most of these We
lhicles. commercial and private, al
ready have the basic equipment for
swapping the oncoming driver into
aIertness and the instructive re-
action to slow down. An auxiliary
switch installed in the present
turn-slgnal system or on the dash
board provides four simultaneously
flashing lights-one at each corner
of the vehicle-that telegraphs the
idea of danger and commands auto
IImatic response.
| This roadside protection-for
both the man with the fat tire and
those who must pass him-is pro-
vided for now in the Uniform We
hicIe Code OF the National Com
mittee on Uniform Traffic Laws
and Ordinances. Simple attach
ments to convert your turn-Iights
to this double duty are available
now. The American Trucking AS
sociations recommend such sig
nails. They may soon be standard
equipment on new cars.
| The question is: How much
more blood must stain our high
ways before this flashing disable
ment fare becomes mandatory p
*&s
| The PreIimiHaries
/ We are being told that Senator
kefauver has won primaries be-
fore. and are assured by Governor
Stevenson that he has just begun
| to fight But the jolts sustained by
| the Democratic party in these ear
lIv popularity contests are shaking
some more names out of the Sc
lcampaign hat
! There's Senator Stuart Svming-
| ton, who first held the Office OF
Secretary of the Air Force. and
who, it is generally agreed would
make hard-hitting campaign
There's New Mexico's Senator Clin-
lfon r. Anderson. former Secretary
/ of Agriculture. regarded as equally
acceptable to north and south
/ There's Michigsn's Governor O..
Mennen Williams. The Waiter Reu-
ther front man And we suppose