Safe Accidents

During 15 years of work with the police and with insurance companies, William Wirich Harper of Pasadena, physicist-consultant on auto accidents, has investigated 3,000 smashups. He has come to a basic conclusion: "We have spent too damn much time worrying about the cause of accidents. It's time we started worrying about the cause of injuries."

Fifty to 60% of injuries are due to people being thrown against the inside of the car. Twenty to 30% are due to people being thrown out of the car. Only ten to 20% are caused by actual crushing of the passenger space.

The simplest way to avoid injury, Harper says, is to wear a safety belt, which at the very least will keep the passenger from being thrown out. He should usually escape serious injury unless the car is crushed.

Auto manufacturers, Harper insists, could easily reduce the killing effect of accidents. One simple improvement would be to attach the seats so firmly that they cannot come loose and toss the passenger into the windshield. Another would be to pad the dashboard properly and remove its projecting knobs, which Harper calls "fangs of death." Even at very slow speeds a person can die of a punctured skull if his head hits a fang of death.

With safety belts and a few improvements in car design. Harper believes, "we can have a world where there may be accidents, which are normal when you put men in machines, but where there will be only rare injuries."

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