FROM THE ARCHIVES: 400 Expected to Die in Car Crashes This Weekend, Same as in 1959

Nearly 400 people are expected to die in car crashes across the U.S, the NTSB says.  That's the same number that were expected to die in 1959, according to this illuminating clip from the WNYC archives.  Which means overall that drivers are much safer, since at least two trillion more miles are driven now than in 1970, the first year statistics were kept. 

"I've seen cars that have seat belts and I've ridden in some," says one questioner to radio host Jay Nelson Tuck, "but I know that most people don't bother to use them when they have them." 

"We're faced with a similar problem here that we are facing up to today in the administration of the salt vaccine for poliomyelitis," Tuck responds. 

"This disease on the highways is a national disgrace," Tuck adds.

(Audio courtesy the municipal archives.)