Grim Record

Grim Record

Of all the grim records of violence and death down through mankind’s long history, perhaps the strangest and most tragic is the story of the automobile and its annual army of victims. Since the first horseless carriage chugged noisily down cobblestone streets, more than 60,000,000 Americans - killed, crippled and maimed - have inscribed their names on what has aptly been referred to as “the dishonor roll*. By whatever name, the yearly casualty count continues its shameful, senseless growth. Last year was no exception. In fact 1963 claimed the dubious distinction of being the worst single year in the history of highway safety. During its twelve months, automobile accidents were responsible for more deaths than the U. S. armed forces suffered in the entire Korean War. According to an authoritative report by The Travelers Insurance Companies, the nation’s traffic death toll surged to an all-time high as a total of 42,700 men, women and children died on our streets and highways. The annual country-wide survey based on information provided by state motor vehicle departments revealed that the 1963 carnage topped the figure of nearly 40,000 persons killed in 1941 - a record high which stood for twenty years - and even surpassed the new record of 40,500 deaths established in 1962.

Incredibly, more persons have died on the highways than on our nation’s battlefields; more have been injured in auto accidents than in all the world’s wars combined.

This roll call of highway fatalities is no secret document hidden from the public gaze. In newspapers and bulletins, legal and police reports, in courtrooms and judges’ chambers, the names on the dishonor roll and their innocent victims are made known to all. And not the names alone, but the catalogue of their deeds; driving while drunk, speeding, violating the rules of the road, failure to dim lights, driving on the wrong side of the road, etc. These are a few of their offenses. In an endless roll call