An American Factor in Safety
Page 26
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AN aspect of the operation of commercial vehicles in the United States, and one to which little attention is paid in Britain, is the safety precautions which are expected to be taken at night by drivers in the event of breakdown or accident.
A great many 'owners provide their drivers with what are known as " fusees," or separate lamps, by which other people on the road can be warned of the existence of some obstruction. They also prove useful if there be failure of the standard lamps of a vehicle. In such a contingency, the driver, his mate or anyone else with sufficient "gumption " hastens to park the lamps or " fusees " (the latter apparently being some form of flare) at such distance from the vehicle or . vehicles that other drivers can pull up to avoid danger and, at the same time, be available to give any assistance necessary.
Multiple crashes, where vehicles have piled up on others stopped by accident or for some other cause, are not unknown here—in fact, we have observed some ourselves where roads have been unlighted.
In a case reported recently from America, a lorry on long-distance service, and under conditions of difficult visibility due to snow, crashed into a stationary and unlighted farm tractor w.hich had been abandoned on the road. Although the driver was seriously hurt, having two fingers almost severed and other injuries, he, with great consideration for others and as a matter of the duty which had been laid upon him, persisted in setting out his warning lamps before he collapsed unconscious. Incidentally, this did help him, because assistance, attracted by the unusual lights. was quickly forthcoming.
Most American drivers are also instructed to pay every attention to other road users in respect of affording them assistance in any emergency. and rewards are given to them for particularly meritorious achievements of this nature. One saw a car which had run off the road down a bank. and he was able to rescue from it an injured army officer just before the vehisie burst into flames, in which the passenger would otherwise have perished. We have no doubt, of course, that our drivers would give similar help, even without definite instruction.