THE LAST CLEAR CHANCE

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 I could do more good out on the road I could keep trying to prevent other people from killing themselves in their cars and bringing to other families like the Dixons in there that heartbreak that never quite healed 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 little help on the farm for the [Music] summer he was a chip off the old block studying scientific agriculture at school and getting ready to follow in his dad's footsteps Frank's girl Betty Hutchins had been waiting for him of course everyone knew they'd be getting married before too long Mr Dixon's new tractor just arrived down at the Union Pacific Freight station and they all went down to inspect it Frank's kid brother Allan and just taken his driving test a week before Allan sure wanted to drive his dad's new tra but until he actually received the license dad Dixon wasn't letting him on the highway not even on a tractor [Music] [Applause] the up Station Agent had reminded Frank that the 41 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 first driver's license arrived in a noon mail delivery Bo 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 to you 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 or 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'd known the Dixons they don't treat you as a cop but as a friend [Music] thanks looks like you're going to have another Dixon to worry about alen got his driver's license oh is that right well let me see it would you you bet well I guess that makes it official when'd you get it just came today oh just today huh why' I see you out driving on Highway 30 yesterday morning it was my fault I let him take the car to go and see his girl I'm sorry I'll let him have it I shouldn't have done it Allan shouldn't have asked for the car no he shouldn't have fine way to be starting your driving career violation already I'm sorry well it's only a technical violation I didn't come here to arrest you Alan I knew you'd be getting that license any day now and I thought this would be a good time to come by and tell you a few of 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 well some of them you've read about in the papers big spectacular crashes caused by terrific speed or drunk driving or some other form of what I call near insanity but most people only squeeze the law a little at stop signs in restricted speed zones and the like 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 and nothing happens but don't forget that other law the law of Aver sooner or later it catches up with you this accident was number one for the driver involved first one he'd ever had but it was his last one too he took one little chance too many Frank is taking too many chances in his car oh he'll be all right what 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 are just ignoring it well that's one of those little things that kills people wherever there's a hazard on the road there's usually a sign to tell you about it like a curve warning or right of way sign narrow bridge signals ahead do not enter no passing and many others 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 or 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 Streamliner 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 the signal the crossbuck are really your Signs of Life yes the sign is still there but you have to be twice as alert to see it 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 in deepening Shadow Main Street at night becomes a maze of 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 wigwag 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 how come cramps their style they figure rules are for the other fellow not for good drivers like themselves here's one like that Robert Banbridge Banbridge from ran high yeah oh I know him I run against him on the track team [Music] I knew him I'm sorry dear Robert Banbridge age 17 occupation student place of accident Lone Tree Road near Meridian date June 2nd Time 4117 weather clear and [Music] dry I gave him the light and siren on Highway 41 when he was doing about 70 his first mistake was speeding his second mistake was when he tried to outrun me [Applause] [Music] then he turned off into Lone Tree Road that was his third mistake 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 followed along without the Flasher a siren hoping he'd realize what he was doing before it was too late I lost sight of them around the turn he took it way too fast for [Music] [Applause] gravel when I rounded the [Music] turn 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 all gets a young fellow in a car figures he's quick enough to save himself quick enough if a human body could match a machine when you get to be my age you 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's day celebration but a real honest of goodness means a 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 that used to be so quiet peaceful are now the lanes of high-speed traffic the roads that used to wind 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 a 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 a kid I run 100 yard in 11 seconds yeah I used to run me down in about three jumps no G with 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 close down your reactions and at 60 M an hour or better you can't afford [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] it 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 tangle 40% of all Expressway accidents involve a car that has already stopped on the road part way on or not far enough off this is an invitation to disaster [Music] here is another Hazard of our super highways that we Patrol men 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 [Music] developed the parked car that suddenly pulls out without looking it's always sudden of course and always surprising the man who decides at the last moment to make a turn the entering car that fails to yield the right of way well sure the other Fell's often wrong and if he causes a crash it's all his fault but you may be dead just the same in a lot of accidents it's pretty hard to tell just who is to blame isn't it Hal impossible to tell sometimes but there's one kind of accident where there's never a single doubt that train sure has the right away you know the railroad's been here for almost four generations every Farm family in these parts uses a 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 anyone could fail to see or hear a train in motion a locomotive is certainly big enough and the train of cars behind it may be 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 away 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 that took several minutes to cross but the next one may be a fast break highballing to the coast in a tight schedule 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 [Music] you stop look and listen the crossbuck says all right let's listen as this train approaches let's see how close it comes before we hear it now where did that train come from where does any train come from comes on the rails of course and who gets killed at the Crossing someone who's crossed that same track at the same place 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 hi surrender Hal I give up what's the charge no charge Frank I'm just giving out want some free advice now that he's a licensed driver boy 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 I take the car into town now okay I go ahead but take it easy oh I I'll be real careful goodbye he'll be all right let's get the guy going hey maybe we better go along with him make sure he gets there all right okay you buy me soda okay fine goodbye everybody bye so there went Allan with his new driver's license and Frank and Betty right behind on As Nice a summer day as you could wish for [Music] [Music] [Music] why don't they look Ralph 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 stop 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 Foles that end up with someone a little bit [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] dead e [Music] la [Music]