HIGHWAY HOMICIDE

Ralph Nader's Unsafe at any Speed and the resultant run-in with GM has placed him on the front page; O'Connell & Myers' Safety Last (p. 93) added horsepower to the fight against the automotive industry. Paul Kearney's Highway Homicide is starting out close behind these highpower jobs but is unlikely to catch up to them in the market-place. The author also lances the Detroit myth of infallibility with its collateral placement of blame for accidents on ""the nut behind the wheel"": ""While we do have sea-worthy ships and fire retardant buildings, we still lack a crashworthy automobile."" He describes the Survival Cars designed by Frank Crandell, makes recommendations for built-in safety instead of built-in injury. He goes on to assess the highways with their inadequate center strips, shoulders, lighting (while there is one-third the traffic at night, there are nearly three times the traffic deaths). He discusses driver responsibility: inattention, drinking, and the need for education in both attitudes and techniques. Standard compact.