Last Clear Chance (1959)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] I suppose I should have gone in for a few minutes but I just couldn't do it burying someone from a family you've known from childhood someone cut down in the prime of life well it's hard to take I could say goodbye from here besides and I could do more good out on the road and I could keep trying to prevent other people from killing themselves in their cars and bringing two other families like the Dickson's in there that heartbreak that never quite heals it was hard to believe that just a few days before the Dixon family had been as happy and contented a group of people as you'd find anywhere Frank jr. had just come home from college to give his dad a little help on the farm for the summer he was a chip off the old block studying scientific agriculture at school getting ready to follow in his dad's footsteps Frank's girl Betty Hutchins have been waiting for him of course everyone knew they'd be getting married before too long mr. Dixon's new tractor just arrived on at the Union Pacific freight station and they all went down to inspect Frank's kid brother out and just taken his driving test a week before Allen sure wanted to drive his dad's new tractor but until he actually received the license dad Dixon wasn't letting him on the highway not even on a tractor [Applause] the yupi station agent had reminded Frank that the 411 streamliner was due any minute and of course with Betty there he wasn't taking chances anyway if everyone was that careful all the time well a lot of people in the cemeteries would be alive today it was the next Monday that Alan Dixon's first driver's license arrived in a noon mail delivery boy was he proud of that license he couldn't wait to show it to his brother after all your first license is sort of a milestone it means all the roads are now open - he was proud of the license naturally and just as naturally wanted to make use of it on any errand that his dad or his mother bar his grandfather could think of the only trouble was I had to choose that moment to drive in and spoil things of course when you've known a family as long as I've known the Dickson's they don't treat you as a cop what is a friend looks like you're gonna have another Dixon to worry about Oh Alan grounds driver's license oh is that right well let me see it would you you bet well I guess that makes it official where'd you get it this came today oh just today huh why did I see you out driving on highway 30 yesterday morning this is my fault I let him take the car to go and see his girl I'm sorry I'll let him out I shouldn't have done Alan shouldn't have asked for the car no you shouldn't have fine way be starting a driving career violation already I'm sorry well it's only a technical violation I didn't come here to arrest you Alan and you'd be getting that license any day now and I thought this would be a good time to come by and tell you if you were the facts of life about driving before you get started now these are accident reports from my headquarters each figure represents someone injured or killed in the state on city streets farm roads highways and railroad crossings all the facts and figures are here some of them you've read about in the papers big spectacular crashes caused by terrific speed our drunk driving or some other form of what I call near insanity but most people only squeeze the law at stop signs in restricted speed zones in the light little violations that most people get away with time after time maybe getting a ticket or a warning like Frank jr. did but without getting hurt but those little violations those little chances you take day by day that's where you start playing roulette with your life you're taking a big gamble with your life when you violate a no passing line on the road you're taking a big chance in the car in front when you follow too closely at highway speeds maybe a man will do these things a hundred times in perfect safety squeeze the law nothing happens but don't forget that other law the law of effort [Music] sooner or later it catches up with you well this accident was number one for the driver involved first one he'd ever had but it was this last one too he took one little chance too many Frank is taking too many chances in his car oh you'll be all right funny how he'll be all right if he takes to heart what I told him about signs signs of life that's what stop signs and all the other road signs really are and missing one of them as you drive along I just ignoring it well that's one of those little things that kills people wherever there's a hazard on a road there's usually a sign to tell you about it like a curve warning where right-of-way sign narrow bridge signals ahead do not enter no passing and many up [Music] but for too many drivers a stop sign like this for example has no importance unless they can see cars crossing the road ahead right now a school crossing sign for some drivers seems to mean little and nothing unless there are children actually crossing the street at that moment as for railroad crossings some drivers act as if the warning signs and tracks don't even exist unless there's a stream liner passing by right in front of them and even then hard as it is to believe there are many accidents where the driver ran past three warning signs and straight into the side of a moving train it has happened in broad daylight but it happens even more often at night that's when the warning sign a signal across buck are really your signs of life yes the sign is still there but you have to be twice as alert to see if you hadn't seen the signs this train might come as a surprise to you traffic signs and signals that are so easy to see in the daylight become easier to miss as the Sun Goes Down Twilight is a dangerous time of day when things are half visible half and deepening shadows Main Street at night becomes a maze lights and neon signs all competing with one another to catch your eye but where's the traffic signal oh there it is almost lost against the other lights beyond even the blinking red light of the railroad wig wag is hard to pick out sometimes but night or day these are your signs of life whose purpose is to keep you alive it's a strange thing but some people actually resent traffic signs and traffic laws Oh cow cramps their style they figure rules are for the other fellow not for good drivers like themselves here's one like that Robert Bainbridge Bainbridge from Meridian High yeah oh I know him I ran against him on the track team [Applause] [Music] I knew it I'm sorry dear Robert Bainbridge age 17 occupation student place of accident Lone Tree Road near Meridian date June 2nd time for 17 weather clear and dry I gave him the light and siren on highway 41 when he was doing about 70 his first mistake was speeding the second mistake was when he tried to outrun [Music] [Applause] [Music] then he turned off into lone free role that was his third mister I didn't chase him on that gravel road I didn't want him to keep up that speed on such a treacherous footing I just pull it along without the flasher siren hoping he'd realize what he was doing before it was too late I lost sight of him around a turn he took it way too fast for ground when I rounded the turn the road ahead was empty I knew what had happened even before I found the car of course the boy had tried to stop and he felt his car going out of control but he never had a chance [Music] I can't understand it why did he do it you tell me that's one thing the reports don't show why people do things with a car that make no sense at all well I guess a young fellow in the car because he's quick enough to save himself quick enough if a human body could match a machine when you get the beam I'd just slow down well you can remember the old days can't you mr. Dixon yep when a tandem bicycle wasn't just a showpiece for an old timers day celebration but a real honest-to-goodness means of transportation sometimes we forget that there are plenty of people in our highways today who grew up in that horse and buggy age those narrow two-lane country roads it used to be so quiet peaceful are now several lanes of high-speed track the roads that used to whine gently around the hills now slice through mountains with nothing to slow you down and many of rail crossing that stopped you in the old days is now our high-speed underpass or overpass everything in the world of Transportation has improved everything except the drivers we still have to use the same old equipment our eyes and ears and reflexes they haven't improved a bit no they haven't when I was kid I run a hundred yards 11 seconds yeah you strung me down about three jumps no gasps 11 flat that's faster than I ever read it in what point is Ellen you have to face a much greater danger on the road than your grandfather did with no better equipment no better personal equipment that is well the highways and the cars are better and faster of course and that's where the danger is yes danger even with sensible safe driving people on a highway as smooth as silk with no traffic lights and no intersections to worry about you might wonder where is the danger we keep talking about well here's one danger fatigue on long trips fatigue is a big hazard you should stop at least once every hour get out stretch your legs get those cobwebs out of your head weariness slows down your reactions and at 60 miles an hour or better you can't afford it [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] here is still another danger lack of attention to the road sure it's an open highway maybe there aren't many cars but it only takes two to tango 40% of all expressway accidents involve a car that has already stopped on the road partway on or not far enough oh this is an invitation to disaster [Music] here is another hazard of our super highways that we patrolmen see all too often every time you have to hit your brakes hard ask yourself why weren't you ready for the danger that's suddenly developed the parked car that suddenly pulls out without looking it's always sudden of course and always surprised a man who decides at the last moment to make a turn the entering car that fails to yield the right-of-way [Applause] well sure the other fella is often wrong and if he causes a crash it's all his fault you may be dead just the same a lot of accidents it's pretty hard to tell just who is to blame isn't it how impossible to tell sometimes but there's one kind of accident where there's never a single doubt what's that at a railroad crossing yep the Train sure has the right of way you know the railroads been here for almost four generations every farm family in these parts uses the railroad to ship their crops we all like to ride the trains but why is it so many people don't see the trains at the crossings it seems impossible that any one could fail to see or hear a train in motion the locomotive is certainly big enough and a train of cars behind it maybe as much as a mile long and yet many people who have lived through a crossing accident will say where did the train come from I never saw it until it was right on top of me where did it come from well it came on the rails it couldn't come from anywhere else but if you paid no attention to the signs didn't look and didn't listen then to you it came out of nowhere an approaching train starts the signal while it is still some distance away never try to guess how far don't guess at all and don't be impatient because the train's coming and it can't stop [Music] any signal in action means that a condition of fatal danger exists at this moment at this crossing maybe the last train you waited for was a slow Freight it took several minutes to cross but the next one maybe a fast Freight I fall into the coast and a tight schedule [Music] remember that many freight trains today are faster than passenger trains of 15 years ago many crossings have more than one set of tracks each one a separate hazard when you cross make sure all tracks are clear yes don't let a double-track double-cross you stop look and listen the crossbuck says alright let's listen as this train approaches let's see how close it comes before we hear it now where did that train come where does any train come from comes on the rails of course and who gets killed at the crossing someone who's crushed that same track at the same place a thousand times before but just one time he didn't look one time is all it takes please speak to Frank about his driving it worries me okay I will I'll do it tonight I surrender how I give up what's the charge no charge Frank I'm just giving out on some free advice now that he's a licensed driver poor I remember that advice you gave me the other day at the stop sign well you keep it in mind I will dad dad can't take the car into town now okay I'm on go ahead but take it easy I'll be real careful goodbye he'll be all right look at the guy going hey maybe we better go along with him make sure he gets there okay okay fine goodbye everybody so there went Alan with his new drivers license and Frank and Betty right behind on as nice a summer day as you could wish for [Music] [Music] why don't they look well tell me why don't they look no I didn't go in burying someone like young Frank Dixon is too hard to take my place was out on the road out on the road I could at least try to keep other people from killing themselves in their cars so if the next car I stopped happens to be yours don't tell me you were only speeding a little only breaking the law a little only doing something a little bit wrong save that for somebody else brother because I see too many little Follies that end up with someone a little bit dead [Music] you