Anatomy of an Accident (1962)

[Applause] [Music] [Music] e are you hey don't cry [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Cathy [Music] [Applause] [Music] nice leather I got tired oh I'm so sorry sorry it's very comfortable it's a a lovely [Music] chair how much is this $50 what's going on here I'll give you 30 oh but it cost [Music] $200 I'll give you 35 it's all it's worth you can't sell my [Music] chair all right 35 why are you selling my chair but this is robbery don't let him do this oh I keep forgetting she doesn't even know I'm here nobody does and yet it was only a few weeks ago In This Very Room it all [Music] started oh John mhm John oh John yeah this letter from mother she wants us to come up there this weekend this weekend mhm she can't get the money she wants from Brew Baker for the property and she knows that you can but we're going to be up there in a couple of weeks on our vacation anyway I hate to make that long extra now I know but Brew Baker won't wait for two week I'm want to play with it in the backyard well I'm going to play with it Tom a you give me that ball hey Dad catch watch oh you momy Kathy I'm going to phone mother and tell her we're coming up there all right hey are we going to see Grandma yeah it looks like it goody goody Catch It you two kids get that ball out of here right now yes some come on Tommy hey we'll go play in the backyard oh well I know it's 250 miles each way this would be my busiest time we're installing phones in that new subdivision and they all want service right away if not sooner and this safety program is taking a lot of time too why do you have to spend so much time on that to make sure that our people know the value of safe driving hey which reminds me I've got to find a day soon where I can take my own driver refresher course you mean you have to take driving lessons every employee who drives a telephone company vehicle gets defensive driver training as well as refresher courses are you sure they all know what defensive driving is well I hope so we try to impress upon them that a defensive driver is one who makes allowances for the lack of skill and a lack of knowledge on the part of the other fellow who recognizes that he has no control over the unpredictable actions of another driver or of pedestrians or the condition of the roads or of the weather and who therefore develops a defensive attitude toward those hazards sounds very sensible but what in the world is this thing for I haven't named it yet but it's to use in one of our driver classes if they want it you see the three C's of defensive driving are concentration control and courtesy I told Woody about this idea I had to illustrate concentration and he asked me to work it up for the class you see what I'm trying to prove is that driving is a full-time job when you start looking through that windshield you've got to concentrate on what you're doing you mustn't think about the time or how hungry you are oh I get it or don't worry about money or what you going going to do on your vacation that's the idea and you must not get irritated and you mustn't uh think about some red head oh what about that one redheads blonde same thing the one you have at home I mean listen I know what I've got at home kiddo I know when I'm well off I must warn Woody about that when he uses his poster tomorrow and that's a big one family problems personal problems you just can't be worrying about problems and concentrate on your driving at the same time yes Ted how are you going to help it everybody's got problems they can be job problems too like a storm knocking out a cable those are things that you're bound to think about all right I'll give you a problem to think about as a driver and it's a real problem we believe that the vast majority of accidents happen because drivers are thinking about something else besides their driving I I still don't see what we can do about it well we have to try you any ideas John well I think we have to be realistic about it no matter what we tell them drivers are still going to think about other things besides driving that's for darn sure I think if we try to develop safe driving habits and concentrate on them while we're driving then we'll be much better off right and one of the best driving habits you can learn is to keep a buffer zone space could around your moving vehicle now for example let's say you're going at 20 mph on in two-way traffic with cars parked along the side of the street your buffer zone should look like this this 2car length of protective space in front and in the rear of your car gives you safe stopping distance with good brakes on dry pavement and remember when any other car moves into your buffer zone you should take defensive or evasive action promptly this one car length allowed for each 10 mil of your driving speed will provide you with seeing space so that the actions of the drivers around you can be observed in time to keep out of trouble it provides you with space to see ahead to a traffic light or something like a double parked car you know you can't see things like that if you're bumper chasing another car it also provides you with thinking time so you can make the right decision about the conditions around you and it provides action time so that you can come to a quick sure stop or take whatever other action is necessary in order to avoid an accident that's why we have these refresher courses including our road test this afternoon just to make sure we're not slipping into any unsafe habits all right now let's set up a problem on the traffic board here we have a car going east and uh one of our installer trucks heading north the intersection is unmarked neither way is a stop Street both cars reach the intersection at the same time now which car has the right of we Denny the car on the right always has the right of we rest of you agree with that Hanley not if you're a defensive driver would you care to explain that in a situation like this when there's any question about so-called right rideway we have to remember that in our company we always give the rideway Never take it in other words you practice courtesy right it's one of the three C's of defensive driving all right now let's make a switch it's the same driver but instead of a company car he's in his own car now what difference does that make none no difference of course not that's the big thing if not the biggest thing for those of us in the telephone company to remember you know we can be Mighty proud of the fact that the Bell System has one of the most outstanding safety records and has had for a long time but the only way we can keep that record is to work at it work hard to make it even better when the public sees this Bell System sign on one of our cars or trucks we want them to be able to say there goes one of the most considerate drivers in town trouble is some of us when we're off the job forget and leave our defensive driving noow in the company garage and that's why the driver of this car if he's doing what he's supposed to do do will be just as careful and just as courteous as when he's driving for the company now when all of us do that we won't be having 20 times as many injuries off the job as we have driving on the job 20 times as many that's right there's not the limit we know better why don't we do better think about that will you the next time you're out in your [Music] car Callo [Music] everybody that's just your pumpkin coat chits Oh Daddy you mean Cinderella I mean get in there H 250 miles to drive in Saturday traffic where's Tommy he's [Music] coming Grandma want to hear me play my new bugle I just bet you but not on the way up one toot in your root yes sir slide in there send help check us out all right try the lights now the brights now the direction [Music] lights [Music] okay step on the brakes stop light's okay give me the tail lights directionals again [Music] okay left front tires a little low we'll stop for gas and have it checked we ready to take off Dad you bet hey we're just like Pilots checking out an airplane aren't [Music] we slide [Music] over just as important with a car as it is with an [Music] airplane [Music] where is everybody going I often wondered look at that Sunday drivers are really out today they're always out that's one of the things we learn in Defensive Driving we not only have to watch out that we don't make any mistakes ourselves but we have to look out for the other drivers too we have to protect ourselves and them too if we can you know it's a pretty sobering thought but whenever I I'm out in traffic and I see those cars whizzing by like that I say to myself which ones will it be today which ones will be what dad will be in an accident one out of seven of those cars will have an accident before the year is out and that's according to statistics in the next 5 years every one of those drivers will be involved in an accident if he isn't extra careful and so I always remember that and I try to be extra careful myself I don't want us to be one of them [Applause] that's dangerous getting out in traffic like that boy is he mad the guy behind was too close you should always keep a buffer zone of space between you and a car ahead of course that driver up ahead was badly at fault too the one that came out without stopping I wonder how a driver like that feels after causing other people trouble and getting away scottf free himself pretty small I bet yeah wonder what that one is thinking right now there's some sort of Smash Up back there it seems serves them right the way some people drive well weren't we supposed to stop and get mixed up in that well I mean at that stop sign on that little Street oh that oh I was going to stop only when I saw that open place I slid in quick or somebody else did well it's not my fault that some of those silly drivers were going so fast they couldn't stop goodness knows I don't have any accidents that's got it mister valve was leaking a little but it's tight now thanks Come On Son okay okay I got a map so I can watch the road Dad okay Tommy you'll be the [Music] co-pilot [Music] [Applause] [Music] don't tell me what is it dear that clunker up ahead there the one that's holding everybody up it looks like the same one that caused that pile up back on Broad Street [Applause] did you ever hear so many horrid Honkers oh be quiet back there I'm not going to drive any faster for anybody I see the speed limit is 35 miles how fast are we going we're only going 22 so what we're in no hurry it's fre [Music] Country Have a Heart lady get a move on or get over you mind your own business but you're holding everybody up back there will you kindly watch what you're doing don't you worry about me you just oh now he's clear off the road huh it never pays to get mad while you're driving you're inviting an accident when you take time to yell at other drivers even if they drive like idiots it's not up to you to tell them off or to try to get even even when they're hogging the road like that car's been doing if they have to drive slow there are plenty of places to pull over and let other people pass well the others have been getting around but it's a very dangerous thing to do as you just saw but he stopped argue with him the rest got by well suppose he'd met a car that couldn't stop no son you've got to drive as if there's someone coming around every curve and up over every Hill would you take a chance that there isn't how much would you bet on it your allowance $100 a million dollar I haven't got $100 well suppose somebody came along and offered you a million dollars for your life would you take it John don't even talk like that do you mean I'll we dead yeah not me I wouldn't take it all right then your life is worth more than a million dollars so don't bet it on getting around one car in order to save a couple of minutes gamble isn't worth it the stakes are too high for what you can possibly get out of it aren't they gee [Music] well we're next in line anyway the folks back there are honking at us see we have got a long line back there haven't we and they can hardly get by until we do how can those Sunday drivers be so inconsiderate you've still got a lot of miles to go they're just out for a buggy ride [Applause] why don't we go back to Shore Drive it's too far there's a short cut along here pretty quick if they just move over a little bit further now it won't be crowded like this it's a dirt road not a soul uses [Music] it there's a sign of roads just around the band maybe I'll take it and maybe I won't yes how I remember every awful detail I pull out to pass the other car swings right so dusty then changes a [Applause] truck I live it again and again like in slow motion we're going to hit oh [Music] [Music] God they found my lifeless body they found my son crumpled and unconscious from hitting his head on the windshield Helen and Cathy shaken and stunned it isn't fair to die for such a little thing that wasn't my fault I wasn't ready to die besides who's going to take care of my family I'm the one who does that and right now is when they need me the most that's what fathers are for don't do that don't move that boy until the doctor comes where is the doctor has anyone sent for him Kathy's doll poor Susie but it's only a dll don't don't just stand there go to a phone call a doctor for Tommy call an ambulance there's Helen and Kathy thank God they're not hurt any worse than they are but who's going to look out for them that's the horrible thing about an accident it doesn't just end here look at that car Helen's never had to handle anything like this by herself now she's out here in the middle of nowhere what's she going to do what are she and the children going to do from now on without me what's going to become of them well I found out the home was breaking up the home that had been the center of our world our happy world the four of us and Helen bless her heart the sweetest person in the world but not prepared to cope with things things like keeping the rest of the family together moving up to where her mother lives meeting Tommy's Dr bills hello how are you Miss grisol how is Tommy just about the same I'm on my way over there right now well he'll be better I'm sure he will thank you goodbye goodbye poor thing her little boy's been in a coma for over a month oh no never regained Consciousness after the accident well where is he now still in the [Music] hospital oh my son my son what have I done to you and to Mom and Cathy oh Tommy huh what Dad Dad is that you yes Tommy it's me where you been I've been around do you remember the accident sure we been on it after all we lost didn't we yes son we lost but it wasn't my fault you know that don't you that's why I came back I had to be sure you understood you do understand don't you Tommy the other car was going so slow and the horns were honking behind us and I I thought we could get around but the other car swerved over and suddenly the truck was there it was was too much to bet wasn't it Dad yes son yes it was oh poor Tommy stay with your mother she needs you hello Miss Giddings is it all right if I went to see Tommy for a minute thank you so dark in [Music] here [Music] Tomy Tomy nurse nurse no Tommy Tommy no please don't I'll get back to Oh My Darling my poor darling what have I done what have I done no Tommy no no don't please [Music] don't in my baby please [Music] [Applause] [Music] don't [Music] please [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music]