Show s FOGS THAT KILL late on an october afternoon in 1948 a deadly fog of moisture borne poison ouss industrial gases and it ae rosole or tiny gas coated solid particles carried in smoke settled on the small pennsylvania town of donora before the big smog lifted this man made cloud of destruction had dealt death to 20 people and made nearly others ill it was the first time in U S history that it could be stated with scientific that human beings were killed by air pollution but every night and particularly on week ends a far deadlier man made fog descends on americas streets and highways it is the fog in the brain of the drunken driver the fog that kills and injures litin hun deeds before it lifts with the dawn of each new day at donora there were federal state and municipal investigations of the big smog disaster months later whan the inquiries were over there came a pronouncement no from the united states surgeon general donora proved to us that smog no longer is just a nuisance it is a menace to health As a result in du communities have since endeavored to clean up pollution of the air b by y factory smoke to prevent a t recurrence of a man made fog that can prove so deadly but what about the persistent plague of foggy i drivers on the highways drinking drivers safety specialists now agree are an even greater iii menace enace to public safety than official record ss indicate they are one of the major causes of increased fatalities and injuries in traffic ic accidents in recent years and are i entitled to neither sympathy nor mercy official records do not show just how many lives were needlessly sacrificed because of alcohol clouded driving it is known however that more than drivers had been drinking before they became in evolved in fatal accidents last year and that another 2000 pedestrians killed in traffic were in an alcoholic haze at the time thus a toll of to lives in one year may be charged to drivers and pedestrians who had been drinking had lives been lost in donoras in 1951 the nation would be hard at work attacking the causes of such man made tragedies every community in in the nation would be in a state of terror yet the gratice of of drinking and driving continues to in crease and each day drinking drivers claim more vic aims tims than an isolated donora that alarmed the nation 1 1 I strict law enforcement and stern court penalties are needed to clear the highways of alcohol befogged motorists an aroused public opinion can help too by making it unfashionable to drive after drin drinking ang the deadly fog of drinking drivers will begin to lift aa only when the law and the hot breath of community lp S indignation go to work on it in earnest earliest |