PAGE 8
Miwi
MAY, 1959
A veteran police officer calls unfit tires ”criminal’’
and asks for legislation to bring the problem under control.
Case Of The Bald-Faced Tire
Note: Captain Schaeffer’s article will be of
special interest to Firestone Textiles employees
because it discusses the importance of safety in
tires which they help to manufacture at the Gas
tonia plant. The problem discussed here is also of
vital importance to employees who operate motor
vehicles — more especially now that highway
travel will be greatly increased during the
coming months of the spring-autumn seasons.
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There’s a killer loose on our highways—es
pecially on the turnpikes. This killer was once
someone’s friend and protector, a life-saver in an
emergency. Now, growing bald and losing its
grip, the killer tire has become a public enemy
in far more auto accidents than the public real
izes.
Police have trained investigators, but too often
this killer slips through the net of blame, mas
querading under the names of “Too fast for con
ditions” or “Lost control on curve,” or “Hazard
ous highway conditions.” We need to strip off
these disguises and identify this killer.
The sight of a worn tire brings sickening
visions of the dead and injured I have seen,
strewn over the highways, pinned in torn and
jagged metal, horribly festooned with baggage,
canned goods and children’s toys. I feel the frus
trating urgency of waiting for an ambulance
which will whisk the broken bodies out of sight
toward merciful hands in hospitals. It all seems so
senseless in this peaceful country of ours that I
feel a compelling urge—even a moral obligation
—to speak out with what I know about the
dangers of worn tires. For 32 years I have been
investigating auto crashes at the highway level.
God in His infinite wisdom saw fit to place
tread on the tips of your fingers. The loops and
whorls of your fingertips were not put there for
identification alone. If they were eliminated, you
would have difficulty holding a wet glass of
water, a cake of soap, or a lifesaving grasp on
any object you might reach for. This is a friction
grip. On the highway it’s called coefficient of
friction. It’s the difference between life and
death on the highway.
Bald Tires A National Problem
My fellow troopers and I conducted the only
realistic research I know of, on the relationship
of bald tires to accident frequency. The reports
studied were our own accident investigations,
checked and rechecked by competent traffic of
ficers. Our laboratory was the Pennsylvania
Turnpike. Results confirmed our belief that we
not only had a state problem, but one of national
significance as well.
Even in Pennsylvania, with its outstanding pro
gram of compulsory semi-annual vehicle inspec
tion, faulty tires get by, because we don’t have
a law requiring tread on tires—only that the
breaker strip fabric or cushion gum is not show
ing. The spare tire is not included in the inspec
tion. Tires can be as bald as Yul Brynner, so
long as they don’t have a hole showing.
Since our concern with tires began several
years ago, we have continued to gather data and
work toward remedial action. With a limited
police force to patrol the 360-mile mainline of
the Turnpike, which carries almost an equal
amount of out-of-state and Pennsylvania traffic,
it is not possible to man each interchange or to
stop traffic to check condition of tires. So, spot
checks were made at interchanges, at service
areas, or when police stopped a motorist for any
reason. Thousands of written warnings ware
issued ani hundreds of vehicles with tires unfit
for travel were put off the Turnpike.
In 1956, faulty tires accounted for 29 per cent of
the fatalities on the Turnpike. The relationship of
good tread and weather was emphasized by the
record during July and August of that year,
when 68 per cent of the fatalities involved bad
rubber. Our deduction was that the two-month
period was unusually wet, coupled with the fail-
By Captain Singleton Shaeffer
Commanding officer. Troop C, District 2, Penn
sylvania State Police. Reprinted from "Traffic
Safety."
ure of vacationists to check their tires as
thoroughly as they checked their fishing tackle.
We visited one of the largest authorized service
garages for the Turnpike and found that 98 per
cent of the wrecked vehicles had bald tires. Some
of the latest models with original tires had no
tread.
In 1957, the percentage of fatalities involving
tires was reduced to 19. The record would have
been better if a wet autumn had not brought a
rash of skidding accidents. As many as five per
sons were killed in one accident caused by bare
tires.
Needed: Laws Against Slick Tires
What can be done? Our warning efforts have
limitations. It’s not primarily a police problem,
anyway. Controls must first come through proper
laws in all states to prohibit the use of faulty
tires. We have brake laws. Why not an adequate
tire law? It is not enough to make sure your own
car is safe. You are still risking a head-on col
lision if the other motorist skids into your path.
The blowout, although bad enough to take sev
eral lives a year on the Turnpike, is not the worst
tire hazard to fear. It is the treadless, skidding,
out-of-control vehicle that seeks its victims among
the innocent travelers going in the opposite di
rection.
We interviewed thousands of motorists whose
tires were considered unsafe. They had a com
mon answer, “We didn’t know they were that
bad,” or “Why didn’t the garageman who inspect
ed the car tell us?”
The No. 1 problem of the superhighways is still
fatigue and lack of sleep on the part of the
driver. The many more thousands of miles of
superhighway in the , making probably won’t
change this situation. However, the constant No.
2 killer—too fast for conditions, with its hidden
tire problem—can and should be brought under
control.
It is the prayer of those of us who patrol the
highways that some immediate action be started
among our legislators, safety groups and ad
ministrators which will end the reign of death
of bad tires—at least one known cause of our
nation’s traffic toll.
Contact the state legislator of your district.
Find out what protection you have against the
use of a faulty tire under your state laws and,
if inadequate, you might suggest a minimum:
(1) That all vehicles operated on a public high
way have at least 1/16 inch of traction tread
around the entire outside of the tires, including
the spare; (2) Make it illegal to offer for sale a
used tire that is damaged in the side walls or
casings, making it unsafe for use, or to sell one
with less than 1/16 inch tread; (3) Make illegal
the resale of tire casings for recapping purposes
that are not considered sound in the side walls
and cords; (4) Require a semi-annual inspection
of tire equipment, along with other safety fea
tures, that meet all the safety requirements
stated here. Enlist help from local and state safe
ty councils, motor clubs and other safety-minded
groups.
Remember the menace of the bald tire when
you read your newspaper. It will unfortunately
provide at least one tragic story of the mounting
accident toll on our streets and highways. Seek
out the real cause of the collision. You will be
shockingly surprised how many times the own
er of the car at fault was trying to get that last
thousand miles out of a junkyard tire, thereby
exacting the supreme price.
The safest car on the road is at the mercy of
the worst junk heap that will run, where the
public does not demand of its law makers the
proper controls, and from its enforcement officers
strict enforcement, for the safety of all against
the negligence of the few.
SIGN UP...SAVE UP and TAKE THE IF OUT OF THRIFT
NIA
UTIEB-BUG!
Garden Club Helped
Clean-Up Drive
Members of Firestone Variety
Garden Club helped launch the
annual Clean-Paint-Fix Week
in April, by joining other local
garden groups to provide litter-
bug-control posters for place
ment in city transit buses. Rich
ard Chastain, son of W. H. Chas
tain of Carding and Mrs. Chas
tain of Weaving (cotton), drew
the Firestone version of the
Peggy Hanna of Main Office
presents a copy of Firestone club
poster to Clyde S. Thornburg,
president-general manager of
Gastonia Transit Company.
Left, Mrs. Paul Quinn, litterbug
chairman of the Gastonia Gar
den Club Council, holds poster
from another local club.
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poster. His mother is publicity
chairman of the plant garden
club.
AFTER 30 YEARS
‘Voice’ Program Ends June 1
The June 1 telecast of the
Voice of Firestone vv^ill mark
the end of one of America’s
outstanding television pro
grams. A spokesman for the
company has announced that
the 30-year-old radio-televi
sion program will be with-
draw^n because no suitable
network time is available.
Presentations by the TV net
works were heard by Firestone
in late April but no suitable
evening time period was offer
ed. Firestone has announced no
further plans for television pro
gramming.
The Voice of Firestone was
first heard by an American
radio audience December 3,
1928.
A Colorful History
Since its first broadcast, the
program has been devoted ex
clusively to the best in all types
of music and has featured many
of the world’s greatest artists
and noted orchestra conductors.
It became the first commerci
ally-sponsored musical program
to be televised, and the first to
be simulcast on AM, FM, TV
and short wave.
Numerous awards have been
bestowed upon the Voice of
Firestone program. The Cham
ber of Commerce of the United
States honored it for its contri
bution to the culture of Ameri
ca. Another honor was the Syl-
vania Award for an outstanding
contribution to creative televi
sion technique. The program
carries the approval of parent-
teacher associations for juvenile
listening. The National Associa
tion for Better Radio and Tele
vision cited it as the outstanding
program in both radio and tele
vision categories.
IT HAS WON the Governor’s
Award of the State of Ohio “for
consistently furthering culture
in entertainment,” and was rec
ognized by the Ohio Education
Association for “outstanding
service in behalf of public edu
cation.”
The Lee De Forest Award was
bestowed on Harvey S. Firestone
Jr., as the individual responsible
for “the most outstanding con
tribution to the cultural devel
opment of radio and televi
sion.”
The George Foster Peabody
Radio-Television Award, one of
the highest honors in the field
of entertainment, was presented
to Firestone in 1956.
In honor of the company’s 30
years of continuous live music
programming on the Voice of
Firestone, the American Federa
tion of Musicians presented a
plaque to Harvey S. Firestone
Jr. in 1958. Other notable awards
have been presented by the
Christophers, the American Le
gion Auxiliary and the General
Federation of Women’s Clubs.
Schachners Live
In Charlotte
Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Schachner
III are at home at 1815 Avon
dale avenue, Charlotte, after
their exchange of marriage vows
in St. Michaels Catholic Church
of Gastonia, April 25. She is the
former Maureen Janet Galligan.
The daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
F. B. Galligan, her father is
superintendent of the Cotton Di
vision at Firestone.
Mrs. Schachner was gradu
ated from Sacred Heart
Academy and Junior College,
Belmont, and from Mercy Hos
pital School of Nursiijig of Char
lotte. She is employed by Gaston
County Health Department.
Her husband is a graduate of
O’Donohue High School, Char
lotte, and Clemson College. He is
employed by National Carbon
Company of Charlotte.