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Show A Public Service, Too MONDAY night 4000 worn-out tire went up in smoke in a giant bonfire on Ensign flats. The event marked the close of National Tire Safety week, sponsored by the Salt Lake City Tire Dealers' association. During the week an intensive drive was made by all dealers to have motorists replace) old, unsafe tires with new or safe rebuilt tires. That may sound like Just a scheme to do little extra tire business under the excuse of promoting motor safety. And certainly the dealers WERE influenced by a desire to sell more tires. Still, that's not all the story. They wsre promoting traffic safety, performing a real public service, too. Just last week In Providence, R. I., an old, worn-out tire on a nine-year-old auto blew out, sending the car careening iato another machine and across the sidewalk to kill a pedestrian. That accident broke a 99-day record of no traffic fatalities in the city which is proud of its name as the safest of its size in the nation. The result was a police-directed drive against all "jalopies" with defective tires or brakes. In the first week 344 cars with bsd tires were found and 43 with barbrakeT Nowprherc1tletind "towngHr Rhode Island have taken up the "anti-jalopy" campaign with the expectation of a considerable improvement in traffic safety. It is worth noting that the falling off in new car aales last year means that more old cars, many with defective tires, brakes or steering apparatus, are on the road today. Official estimates esti-mates based on new car sales and motor vehicle registrations for 1938 show that there are 1,600,000 more used autos in operation than previously. This fact makes the task of checking up on the safety of automobiles the more Important, and such unofficial campaigns as that staged by the tire dealers must be welcomed by traffic officials and the motoring public. |