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Show Safety Workers Recruit Science In Battle oh Highivay Fatalities tyVY "- INFRA-RED .sQix''' JN Teffect of) XT' 1 "N WNDSHIELD ;T"lMBEDD c I ELECTRIC CABLE : lhNOnfc5 Cs-tT X V : - CHAN N ELI ZERS qIE ELECTRIC DUMPERS WARNING BV Ajl AUTOMATIC HIGHWAY LIGHTING Automatic Gadgets Will Eliminate Human Element in Autos of the Future, Say Pioneering Engineers Read and Gasp at Their Elaborate Precautionary Plans! By JOSEPH W. LaBINE Automobile accidents dealt sudden death to 39,700 persons per-sons and cost the nation two billion dollars last year. That is not news. It is an all-time record and a disgrace dis-grace which should be emblazoned in letters of fire along every highway of the land, although it already has screamed from many headlines in the last few weeks. But today, for the first time, there is a definite, organized organ-ized war being carried into every corner of the United States by an army of 8,000,000 who, with their families, make up a quarter of the nation's population, in an effort to drive the grim reaper from the highway once and for all. THAT is NEWS. And scientists today are able to predict confidently that the time is in sight when science will take over the control con-trol of a moving car when it is not S safe to leave the control in the driver's hands and restore that control to the driver at times when nature would ordinarily take it away from him. THAT is news, too. Twelve far-seeing national, civic, educational and business organizations organiza-tions are recruiting the troops for the war on death. One would expect to find lined up in such a campaign the American Automobile association, the Automotive Auto-motive Safety Foundation, the Highway High-way Education board, the International Interna-tional Association of Chiefs of Police, Po-lice, the National Automobile Dealers' Deal-ers' association and the National Safety council and so they are. But it is encouraging to learn that the banner is also being carried by such ordinarily independent groups as the American Legion, the General Gen-eral Federation of Women's Clubs, the National Congress of Parent-Teachers Parent-Teachers and the National Grange. Particularly the National Grange, for in the rural areas more automobile auto-mobile accidents result in swift and horrible death, relatively, than in the more crowded thoroughfares of the cities. Science Takes a Hand. And it is especially heartening to discover that two active groups represent rep-resent the scientific resources of two great universities. These are the Traffic Safety institute of Northwestern North-western university in Evanston, 111., and the bureau of street traffic research re-search of Harvard university at Cambridge, Mass. Two "crystal-gazers" of science Dr. Miller McClintock, director of the Harvard bureau, and Prof. John M. Lessells, of Massachusetts Institute In-stitute of Technology recently startled star-tled the automotive world with visions vi-sions of the day science will make highway accidents next to impossible. impossi-ble. Dr. McClintock speaks of the day to come wlien invisible "electric bumper" rays will prevent one motorist mo-torist from colliding with another, no matter how careless he may be. "It is possible to lay in the pavement pave-ment itself electrical cables which, when a car comes to a dangerous curve or around an obstruction, would automatically take the steering steer-ing from the driver by radio control con-trol and thus center the car over the cable and steer it safely around the curve or obstruction," Dr. McClintock Mc-Clintock explains. Pointing to the success of "invisible "in-visible eye" controls in other fields, the scientist predicts the use of electric bumpers. This would be made possible by installing infrared infra-red lights in the rear of automobiles, automo-biles, which would actuate photoelectric photo-electric cells in front of other cars. This "invisible eye" would reduce the speed of a car overtaking another an-other too rapidly. Lighting the Way. Cars of the future may themselves them-selves turn on and oiT the lights used to illuminate highways at night, it is predicted by Dr. Mc Clintock. This development will also make use of infra-red light rays and photo-electric cells, he says. When "the first "one-lunger" chugged down Main street, a speed of 30 miles an hour was considered remarkable, and as a result, no particular par-ticular demand was put on the brakes. Nowadays, stock cars are manufactured ,' with much greater speeds, and more efficient brakes have followed brakes which can bring cars to a stop in less than half the distance formerly required, if the proper traction can be obtained ob-tained on the road surface. Such traction is a simple matter when road surfaces are dry, according ac-cording to Professor Lessells, editor edi-tor of the technical journal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. En-gineers. Eliminating the "hazard zone" where wet pavement causes skidding skid-ding accidents will be one of science's sci-ence's greatest contributions to traf fic safely, according to Professor Lessells. Pointing out that the solution of the problem must be found at the point where the car makes contact con-tact with the road, Professor Lessells Les-sells adds: "If we can instantaneously instantane-ously create a dry surface, over which the tire is always passing, the car's brakes will keep it under control. I anticipate that some way will soon be found to make this possible." Autos on Increase. The car owner who thinks that traffic safety will come only when fewer autos are on the highways is in for a big disappointment, if a recent survey of automobile and traffic experts means anything. They expect, on the basis of present pres-ent trends that the next 20 years Here are traffic developments predicted for the future: (1) Guid-. ing cars automatically by invisible rays from cables in a street. (2) Ending motoring's "hazard zone" with in effect a battery of windshield wind-shield wipers through non - skid methods. (3) Infra-red rays from car to car to slow down vehicles approaching too rapidly. (4) Radio beam warnings from one car to another. an-other. (5) Electric eyes to control highway lighting so that any given area Is illuminated only when traffic requires it. will find 37,000,000 motor vehicles on the road 10,000,000 more cars than now choke the highways 1 Except for the relatively few heavy traffic routes which are properly prop-erly lighted, the inadequate systems used for illuminating the highways, and the blinding glare of headlights head-lights on the road, are two chief reasons given for rural roads being the scene of most fatal auto aeci dents. Science is developing a new system sys-tem of highway lights for certain areas which will supply long-range visibility without glare illuminating illuminat-ing the road so that a driver can see as far ahead as in clear daylight. day-light. Glareless Headlights. Because the taxpayers would groan if all highways were floodlighted flood-lighted by this new lighting system, sys-tem, traffic experts say that glare-less glare-less headlights will be necessary on 90 per cent of the highways. Here, too, science has the answer in development de-velopment of polarized glass for headlights and windshields to eliminate elim-inate glare without reducing the amount of light on the road ahead. Looking to the car of the future itself, the public is assured by the auto makers that the cars of the next few years will make the present pres-ent models look more antiquated than the first horseless carriages. A crystal-gazing picture of what kind of a car today's driver may L. ? i V H ft Tr ' - H !-; ?- ! I 1 li i ' ' 'J r i; I " H i $ m ! 1 I M i r- i 1 I - M..irft, w i Dr. Miller McClintock, director of Harvard university bureau of street traffic research, examines a model "city of the future," where traffic will move quickly along super-highways. be riding in tomorrow, is given by Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, Vorld war ace, and engineering "prophet." "proph-et." Captain Rickenbacker predicts: "It will be an attractive car to ride in. In size and appearance the interior in-terior will be like a small living room. It will be air-conditioned and there will be no noise or vibration. vi-bration. "You will have to look twice to find the engine. It will be less conspicuous than in cars today. It may be x-shaped or it may be radial radi-al like certain airplane engines. It may be in front or it may be behind. be-hind. In any case, it will be lighter and more compact but just as powerful pow-erful as the engines you are used to." I Wcsti'rn Newspaper Union. |