The Importance of Car Safety Movement

The Importance of Car Safety Movement

 By: Jamour

The Car Safety movement started in the 1950s and 1960s and it continues to this day. The movement has saved the lives of millions of people. Because of the car safety movement we now have airbags, seat belts, and back brake lights.

Seat Belt

Seat belts were invented by an English engineer named George Cayley  in the early 19th century.However, Edward J.Claghorn of New York,was the  first to earn a patent for the idea. Claghorn was granted United States Patent #312085 for a Safety-Belt for tourist,painters,and fireman. In 1911 Benjamin Foulois had the cavalry saddle shop fashion a belt for the seat of Wright Flyer Signal Corps1. He wanted it to hold him firmly in his seat so he could better control his aircraft as he bounded along the rough field used for takeoff and landing. It was not until World War 2 that seat belts were fully adopted in military aircraft,and even then,it was mainly for safety reasons,not to improve aircraft control. The world’s first seat belt law was put in place in 1970, in the state of Victoria,Australia,making the wearing of seat belt compulsory for drivers and front-seat passengers. This legislation was enacted after trialing Hemco seat belts,designed by Desmond Hemphill,in the front of police vehicles lowering the incidence of officer injury and death. University of Minnesota Professor James J.Ryan was the inventor of and held the patent on the automatic retractable lap safety belt. Ralph Nader cited Ryan work ins Unsafe at Any Speed and in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed two bills requiring safety belts in all passenger vehicles starting in 1968:SEE”Crash”Was His Name;Car Safety Was His Game” in Minnesota.

Third Brake Light

mustangEarly road vehicles used fueled lamps,Before the availability of electric lighting. For example,the first introduced Ford Model used carbide lamps for headlamps and oil lamps for tail lamps. It did not have all electric lighting as a standard feature until after several years on the market. Dynamos for auto headlamps were first fitted around 1908 and become commonplace in 1920s automobiles.Tail lamps and brake lamps were introduced around 1915 and by 1919 “dip” headlamps were available. The sealed beam headlamp was introduced in 1936 and standardised as the only acceptable type in the USA in 1940. Self-cancelling turn signals were developed in 1940. By 1945 headlamps and signal lamps were integrated into the body styling. Halogen headlamps light sources were developed in Europe in 1960. HID headlamps were produced starting in 1991. In 1993,the first LED tail lamps were installed on mass-production automobiles. Led headlamps were introduced in the first decade on the 21st century.

 

Car Test Dummies

On August 31,1869,Mary Ward became the first recorded victim of an automobile accident;the car involved was steam-powered(Karl Benz did not invent the gasoline-powered automobile until 1886). Ward,of Parsonstown,Ireland was thrown out of a motor vehicle and killed.Thirty years later,on September 13,1899,Henry became North America’s first motor vehicle fatality when hit while stepping off a New York trolley. Since then,over 20 million people worldwide have died due to motor vehicle accident. The need for a means of analyzing and mitigating the effects of motor vehicle accidents on humans was felt soon after commercial production of automobiles began in the late 1890s,and by the 1930s. When the automobile became a common part of daily life and the number of motor vehicle deaths are rising. Death rates had surpassed 15.6 fatalities per 100 million vehicle-miles and were continuing to climb. In 1930 cars had dashboard of rigid metal,non collapsible steering columns,and protruding knobs,buttons,and levers. Without , passengers in a frontal collision could be hurled against the interior of the automobile or through the windshield. The vehicle body itself was rigid,and impact forces were transmitted directly to the vehicle occupants. As late as the 1950s,car manufacturers were on public record as saying that vehicle accidents simply could not be made survivable because the forces in a crash were too great.

Air Brake(road vehicle)

An air brake or,more friction brake for vehicles,in which compressed air pressing on a piston is used to apply the pressure to the brake pad need to stop the vehicle. Air brakes are used in large heavy vehicles,particularly those having multiple trailers which must be linked into the brake system,such as trucks,buses,trailers,and semi-trailers in addition to their use in railroad trains. George Westinghouse first developed  air brakes for use in railway service. He patented a safer air brake on March 5, 1872.Westinghouse made numerous alterations to improve his air pressured brake invented,which led to various form of the automatic brake. Im the early 20th century,after its advantages were proven in railway use,it was adopted by manufacturers of trucks and heavy road vehicles.

For  these reasons why Car Safety is so important. Please when you enter in to a car put on a seat belt. When a police pull you over and tell you to fix you brake light fix them. Albert Einstein said “Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.” Don’t listen to Albert Einstein,don’t kiss a girl while driving,and keep your eyes on the road!