Red Light Return

[Music] when an ambulance crew has an injured person to take back to the hospital they call it a red light return this is the story of one of the many efforts being made to reduce injuries from motor car accidents to cut down on the red light return [Music] of course at the heart of the matter is the motorist well maybe it isn't quite this bad but with the power accessories and automatic features of the modern car to say nothing of our smooth non-stop highways some people don't pay nearly enough attention to the business of driving driving 40 miles an hour doesn't seem dangerous [Music] but dangling 78 feet in mid air does [Music] most people casual drivers or careful drivers have little conception of the forces at work during an auto collision if we were to cut the cable and let the car drop it would develop about 40 miles per hour terminal velocity let's try it and see what happens [Music] don't worry we got the driver out electric razor and all but in most collisions the people stay with it how can cars and motoring be made safer for passengers this is the work of the institute of transportation and traffic engineering of the university of california these researchers have conducted some of the most thorough auto crash studies ever made one of the variables in the current series of experiments involves the testing of different types of safety glass cars traveling at 40 miles an hour will impact stationary vehicles the tests are designed to further the experts knowledge of many collision factors but especially for us they will help to show why passengers so often ride back to the hospital with red light returns from crashes at speeds that may not seem excessive [Music] in any auto collision experiment it is the motorist we are really concerned with this includes you and your family but you can't be crash tested your proxies or sit-ins are mannequins that can be torn gouged and broken like people they are called anthropometric dummies the trauma indicating child dummies are designed to simulate injuries or death some children will wear belts or harness some will not the adult dummies will not use seat belts at the conclusion of each crash some of the findings will be checked on the spot the bulk of the instrument recordings will require months for evaluation but the answers we require about injuries and how to prevent them will be available at once after weeks of preparation the first experiment is ready to go [Music] minus [Music] run [Music] over 20 cameras operating at different speeds view the crash from various angles [Music] during the course of the program of experiments it becomes obvious that two types of injuries often fatal even at city street speeds can be avoided the first involves passengers thrown from the car and dragged on the pavement for emphasis as to what can happen we will repeat the action even when such accidents are not fatal the injury possibilities are obvious and the really painful part it can be [Music] prevented after you have fastened your seat belt lock your door and your passengers should lock theirs as well this greatly increases its resistance to being forced open and can save your life or the lives of your family with this simple extra precaution you save yourself from hitting the street now to save you from hitting your car with your face or head you may think of yourself as being surrounded by metal you're not there is a ninety percent chance that in a collision you will impact glass here is what happens with conventional laminated windshield safety glass at impacts of from about 15 miles per hour and up the glass will break out in a circular hole where your head strikes it the edges of the hole flex [Music] your head goes on through the glass bubble retracts with a collaring effect that entraps your head when the reaction hurls you back the flexible perimeter of the hole becomes a jagged weapon of lethal intensity the best way to avoid this is to stay alert every second as you drive and remember impacts at even relatively low speeds can be fatal in experiment number 82 the striking car's windshield was made up of several different layers of safety glass and plastic [Music] the test results were encouraging on impact the dummies did not penetrate the glass although the outside sheet cracked the inside was so flexible it did not crack [Music] there were no lacerations as we have said the terminal velocity experienced in a 40 miles per hour crash is identical to dropping a car 78 feet if you do become involved in a collision perhaps through no fault of your own the only thing that can prevent you from hitting the windshield is your safety belt but even the best belt can't do any good if it isn't fastened or is not fastened properly pull up the belt snugly [Music] wear it across the hips after a car is two years old check all the belts at least the driver's belt may need replacement the university engineers will be evaluating instrument data for months but there is one result that will be obvious to anyone right now car bodies hold up well in all but the worst crashes human bodies do not hold up well unless they are restrained by belts or harness [Music] so already we know these experiments can begin having results right now every hour of every day on every road street and highway in the country each time we eliminate just one more red light return [Applause] so [Music] [Applause] [Music]