DEATH PUNCHES NO TIME CLOCK
Industry is winning the battle against accidents. Year after year, our
nation turns in record new lows in work accident rates. Last year, Ecusta ex
perienced the lowest accident frequency rate since operation began in 1939.
But, we are making no such progress in eliminating accidents when we
are off the job.
On the job we are influenced for safety in many ways. Posters and our
large safety board hammer safety messages. Foremen teach safe working pro
cedure. Company rules require careful work practices. Safety devices and
equipment protect you.
But it is a serious, and often fatal mistake, for us to relax once we’ve
punched our timecard and put our work clothes in the locker.
We are then out from under supervision and beyond the jurisdiction
of company safety rules. But the hazard is still there. It is, in fact, increased.
For every worker injured on the job there are two injured by accidents while
off the job.
The majority of off-the-job accidents today occur on the highways. Al
though the percentage of accidents have decreased, when compared with ve
hicle registrations, since Ecusta began operation; the number of deaths and
injuries, and the economic loss is appalling.
In publicizing the statistics, it is hard to translate them into a reality of
blood and agony to jar motorists into a realization of the great risk of motor
ing. But, statistics are the only means we have of showing the importance
of highway safety.
When construction first started at Ecusta in 1938, there were 1350 ve
hicle registrations in Transylvania County. During 1950, there were 3723
registrations, an increase of 175 percent, although the total mileage of roads
is the same. There are 340 miles of roads in the county, of which there is
about 85 miles of hard surface. For every mile of road, the number of ve
hicles have jumped from around 3 in 1938 to 11 in 1950. This does not in
clude tourists, trucks, salesmen, etc., that come from outside the county.
During 1950, motor vehicle registrations in North Carolina reached a
record mark of 1,171,228, averaging about IY2 vehicles for every mile of
road in the State. This figure is double the pre-war registrations.
With this great number of motor vehicles on the road today, we can
readily see that North Carolina’s greatest need is HIGHWAY SAFETY.
In 1950, traffic accidents cost 979 lives and 12,029 persons were in
jured. The economic loss was over 63 million dollars. This $63,000,000.00
would have provided driver education for every school child of driving age
for 63 years, operated the State Division of Highway Safety for 74 years,
paid Debt Service Expenses on General Fund Bonds for 127 years, paved
2100 miles of highways, paid one year’s salary for 76,000 N. C. recruits for
the Armed Forces, operated the State Highway Patrol for 24 years, operated
the entire primary and secondary school system for one school year, operated
all State supported colleges for 5^/^ years, or bought a new set of tires for
every car registered in the State.
Highway accidents knock out thousands of man-days of wage-earnings,
productive time—time we can’t afford to lose in a period of rising prices,
and time the nation can’t afford to lose in such an emergency as we face
today.
So the next time you punch out your time card and head for home,
please remember, DEATH PUNCHES NO TIME CLOCK, he works a 24
hour day!