inadequate allocation of resources to safety engineering.

Such elemental safe design features as safety door latches made their appearance as standard equipment only a decade after their desirability and feasibility had been established...

The committee hearings also documented past laxity in furnishing adequate notification to car owners of latent defects which had crept into the manufacturing process defects frequently directly related to safety. Equally disturbing was evidence that the manufacturers have not always taken effective steps to ensure the speedy and efficient repair of such defects.

The committee was presented with graphic evidence that the interior design of many 1966 model cars reveals interiors bristling with rigid tubes, angles, knobs, sharp instruments, and heavy metal of small radius of curvature...

The committee was likewise made aware of the substantial needless hazards to pedestrians presented by external fins, ornamental protrusions, sharp edges, stylistically angled bumpers.

Yet

Federal standards for the safety of chips at sea long antedated the Civil War. By 1907 the Interstate Commerce Commission had set safety standards for the construction of pullman cars. Aviation safety regulations were promulgated by Congress as early as 1926. the automobile sold today in interstate commerce is subject only to a scattering of State regulations and to the fragmentary Federal seat belt and brake fluid laws. Standards development by the Society of Automotive Engineers, which a single manufacturer can veto and which are backed by no effective sanctions, have, not surprisingly, proved totally inadequate. That such a situation should continue to threaten the wellbeing of the majority of the American people is intolerable. Ralph Nader makes the point well:

The rule of law should extend to the safety of any product that carries such high risks to users and bystanders. The public which bears the impact of the auto industry's safety policy must have a direct role in deciding that policy. The decision as to what an adequate standard of public responsibility in vehicle safety should be ought not to be left to the manufacturers, regardless of their performance. But the extraordinarily low quality of that performance certainly accentuates the urgent need for publicly defined and enforced standards of safety.

Thus do I wholly concur in the committee's conclusion that the system of voluntary standards has largely failed, and that

The unconditional imposition of mandatory standards at the earliest practicable date is the only course commensurate with the highway death and injury toll.

S. 3005 provides that the Secretary of Commerce shall issue "interim standards," based on such existing public and private standards as those issued by General Services Administration, the Society of Automotive Engineers, and the various States, in time for them to be included on all 1968 model automobiles. New and revised standards, based largely on the continuing research and development the bill authorizes, would be issued by January 1, 1968, and would be updated every 2 years thereafter. The research pro

gram would provide not only for the investigation of vehicle performance standards and for accident and injury research, but also for the study of such related factors as highway design, paving materials, traffic control devices, and driver performance-all as they bear upon highway safety.

Another aspect of this legislation, Mr. President, involves the important matter of driver notification. The hearings indicated that the industry had been seriously remiss in notifying car purchasers of safety defects discovered in certain models after they had been distributed to dealers. One of the many ways in which the committee strengthened the administration's original proposal was through the inclusion of Senator MONDALE'S amendment, which I was pleased to cosponsor, which would require car manufacturers promptly to notify the purchaser of any vehicle which has been discovered to contain a safetyrelated defect.

S.

It should be emphasized, Mr. President, that automobile safety is only one aspect of a larger national problem. 3052, the Highway Safety Act, which we shall be considering shortly, would provide Federal assistance to the States for traffic and highway safety programs, including driver education, vehicle inspection, highway design, surface treatment, and traffic control. Also of particular importance is the Tire Safety Act of 1966, which I am hopeful shall soon receive House approval. This bill would provide for the establishment and the enforcement of minimum safe performance standards for both new and newly retreaded tires and would require that tires be safety-labeled.

S. 3005 thus takes its place in what can and should be a concerted and multidimensional national effort to arrest the carnage on our highways. It is high time that such an effort get underway. It is high time that our alarm and our concern find concrete legislative expression. Fifty thousand deaths a year represent a national disaster of mammoth proportions, the tragedy of which is compounded by the fact that such destruction and suffering need not be. The Traffic Safety Act of 1966 promises to reduce the dimensions of this tragedy. It is thus with a sense of urgency and concern that I advocate its passage.

Mr. MAGNUSON. I yield 2 minutes to the Senator from West Virginia.

Mr. BYRD of West Virginia. Mr. President, I wish to offer my support for Senate bill 3005, the Traffic Safety Act of 1965. This bill directs the Secretary of Commerce to conduct research for greater traffic safety and to establish standards which will improve the protection offered to drivers, passengers, and pedestrians who come in close contact with vehicles.

Of major importance is the recognition which the measure gives to the need for prompt action in this field. In presenting the legislation, the Senate Commerce Committee took note of the tragic statistics which read: 1.6 million persons dead since the coming of the automobile-all through accidents involving vehicles. It is estimated that another 50,000 or more

Unless the accelerating spiral of deaths is arrested, 100,000 Americans will die as a result of their cars in 1975.

In my own State of West Virginia, the National Safety Council reports that auto accidents claimed the lives of 137 persons in the brief period of January through April of this year. Statistics on record at the National Safety Councii show another 482 persons were killed in auto crashes in West Virginia in 1965, and 467 in 1964, while another 431 died in this manner in 1963 for a total of 1,517 lives

lost in 40 months.

That loss of life equals the total population of many small towns and communities in West Virginia-one of the tragic facts of automobile history in our State.

S. 3005 directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish standards for safety in the performance by automobiles steering mechanisms, wheel brake systems, and seat belts by January 31, 1967, so they may be incorporated in the 1968 model automobiles.

Whether the grim toll of lives which has come to scar each holiday weekend of this country can be attributed to the automobile or to the driver will become a matter of direct concern to the Federal Government as a result of this bill.

I believe it will make us more conscious of these deaths and crippling injuries. It will bring forth the best engineering talent of our automotive industry on a long neglected problem.

As the committee stated:

For too many years, the public's proper concern over the safe driving habits and capacity of the driver was permitted to overshadow the role of the car itself.

The "second collision"-the impact of the individual within the vehicle against the steering wheel. dashboard, windshield-has been largely neglected.

This bill represents a proper beginning to one major area in the field of human safety. It should help to end this daily carnage on our public roads.

Mr. MAGNUSON. Mr. President, I yield 3 minutes to the Senator from Texas.

AUTOMOBILE SAFETY OVERDUE

Mr. YARBOROUGH. Mr. President, the automobile safety legislation we consider today is one of the most vital pieces of legislation we have considered in this historic 89th Congress. We must do something to stop the highway slaughter which has been increasing rapidly all over this land. Many statistics are available to show how serious this slaughter, and the accompanying injury, is. But perhaps the grimmest statistic is that 6,910 servicemen lost their lives in accidents involving privately owned vehicles in this country from January 1, 1961, through December 31, 1965. During the same period, in Vietnam, only 1,365 servicemen were killed in hostile action. In short, in 5 years, we lost more than five times as many servicemen-with their valuable training and experience to the automobile in America than we did to the Vietcong in Vietnam. While the number of men killed in Vietnam has risen substantially since January 1, 1966, we have still lost more than

dents here than in the Vietnam war.

We need the legislation we consider today to stop this slaughter by automobile. And we need it promptly. We enact it none too soon.

Although the administration proposed legislation in this field, the Congress through its Committee on Commerce has worked its will to write a piece of legislation of which it can be truly said that Congress wrote it. I want to express my congratulations to the senior Senator from Washington [Mr. MAGNUSON] for the fine work his committee, on which I

had the pleasure of serving for a number of years, has done as creative legislators.

I am glad to have had some small part in the sponsorship of legislation in this fleld. In the 1st session of the 89th Congress, I cosponsored S. 1251, sponsored by the junior Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. NELSON] that act prescribed safety features for all motor vehicles manufactured for, sold, or shipped in interstate commerce. During this session of Congress, I have been a cosponsor of the amendments of the Senator from Minnesota [Mr. MONDALE] to S. 3005, the basic auto safety bill.

The bill before us is, to quote auto safety critic Ralph Nader, a "significant step forward." It requires the Secretary of Commerce to set standards for vehi

cles, for both domestic and foreign-built cars. It provides for construction and testing of prototype safety cars. Thus it deals both with the problem of the cars we will be driving in the immediate future and with the longer-range problem of trying to work with the most basic safety problems of automobiles, even if radical reconstruction of automobiles is necessary. And I am glad that the standards which the Secretary of Commerce is to develop will be made effective on a permanent basis in 1969, after interim standards have become effective in 1968.

This is a bill in which we have done a great deal for the consumer-the driving public. We are today helping make driving safer for him-even if he is involved in an accident. As you know, the so-called "second accident," when the traveler strikes the inside of his car after his car has hit or been hit by something, is what actually causes injuries to the traveler in many cases. Safety features which are likely to be included in the Secretary's standards will help deal with this problem.

We are helping the driving public in another way-by assuring that he will be kept informed of faults in his car. Manufacturers will, under this legislation, have to inform the Secretary of safety defects, and, as proposed by Senator MONDALE in the amendment on which I joined him, new-car buyers must be notified by manufacturers of safety defects. The manufacturer is also to be required to repair any new equipment with defects affecting safety.

Mr. President, this legislation has been needed for some time. The facts which have been produced in the course of hearings on the legislation, both here and in the other body, show even more

strongly the need for this legislation. The need for mandatory standards has been shown. The need for the requirement that manufacturers notify purchasers of cars of defects has been shown.

We need this legislation. We need its mandatory provisions. The whole country will be thankful to us if we pass this bill.

Mr. MAGNUSON. Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of my time on the bill.

Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of my time on the bill.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the bill.

The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading and was read the third time.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill having been read the third time, the question is, Shall it pass?

On this question the yeas and nays have been ordered, and the clerk will call the roll.

(At this point Mr. KENNEDY of New York assumed the chair as Presiding Officer.)

The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

Mr. MANSFIELD (after having voted in the affirmative). Mr. President, the Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. NELSON), who worked so hard and so long on this bill in committee, is entitled to all the credit possible for its passage. Therefore I must state that had the Senator from Wisconsin been present, he would have voted "yea." Under the circumstances, therefore, I withhold my vote.

Mr. LONG of Louisiana. I announce that the Senator from Tennessee [Mr. BASS), the Senator from Indiana [Mr. BAYH), the Senator from Tennessee [Mr. GORE), the Senator from New Mexico [Mr. MONTOYA], the Senator from Maine [Mr. MUSKIE), and the Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. NELSON] are absent on official business.

I also announce that the Senator from Illinois [Mr. DOUGLAS], the Senator from Oklahoma [Mr. HARRIS], the Senator from Alabama [Mr. HILL), the Senator from South Carolina [Mr. RUSSELL), the Senator from Georgia [Mr. RUSSELL), the Senator from Florida [Mr. SMATHERS), the Senator from Alabama [Mr. SPARKMAN], and the Senator from Maryland [Mr. TYDINGS] are necessarily absent.

I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee [Mr. BASS), the Senator from Indiana [Mr. BAYH), the Senator from Illinois [Mr. DOUGLAS], the Senator from Tennessee [Mr. GORE], the Senator from Oklahoma [Mr. HARRIS], the Senator from Alabama [Mr. HILL), the Senator from New Mexico [Mr. MONTOYA), the Senator from Maine [Mr. MUSKIE), the Senator from South Carolina [Mr. RUSSELL], the Senator from Georgia [Mr. RUSSELL], the Senator from Florida [Mr. SMATHERS], the Senator from Alabama [Mr. SPARKMAN], and the Senator from Maryland [Mr. TYDINGS] would each vote "yea."

Mr. KUCHEL. I announce that the Senator from Delaware [Mr. BoGGs), the Senator from Nebraska [Mr. CURTIS], the

Senator from Iowa [Mr. MILLER), the Senator from California [Mr. MURPHY), the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. SALTONSTALL), the Senator from Wyoming [Mr. SIMPSON], the Senator from Texas [Mr. TOWER] and the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. THURMOND] are necessarily absent.

The Senator from Illinois (Mr. DIRKSEN] is detained on official business.

If present and voting, the Senator from Delaware [Mr. BoGGs], the Senator from Illinois [Mr. DIRKSEN], the Senator from Nebraska [Mr. CURTIS], the Senator from Iowa [Mr. MILLER], the Senator from California [Mr. MURPHY], the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. SALTONSTALL], the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. SIMPSON), the Senator from Texas [Mr. TOWER] and the Senator from South Carolina [Mr. THURMOND] would each vote "yea."

The result was announced-yeas 76, nays 0, as follows:

An Act to provide for a coordinated national safety program and establishment of safety standards for motor vehicles in Interstate commerce to reduce accidents involving motor vehicles and to reduce the deaths and injuries occurring in such accidents

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Traffic Safety Act of 1966".

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

SEC. 2. The Congress hereby declares that the purpose of this Act is to reduce accidents involving motor vehicles and to reduce the deaths and injuries occurring in such accidents. To this end, the Secretary of Commerce shall have authority to establish motor vehicle safety standards for motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment in interstate commerce; and to undertake and support

necessary safety research, development and evaluation.

TITLE I-MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARDS Definitions

SEC. 101. As used in this title

(a) "Motor vehicle safety" means the performance of motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment in such a manner that the public is protected against unreasonable risk of accidents occurring as a result of the design or construction of motor vehicles and is also protected against unreasonable risk of death or injury to persons in the event accidents do occur, and includes nonoperational safety of such vehicles.

(b) "Motor vehicle safety standard" means a minimum standard for motor vehicle performance, or motor vehicle equipment performance, which is practicable, which meets the need for motor vehicle safety and which provides objective criteria.

(c) "Motor vehicle" means any vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical power primarily for use on the public roads, streets, and highways, other than (1) a vehicle subject to safety regulations under part II of the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended (49 U.S.C. 301 et seq.), or under the Transportation of Explosives Act as amended (18 U.S.C. 831-835), and (2) a vehicle or car operated exclusively on a rail or rails.

(d) "Motor vehicle equipment" means any system, part, or component of a motor vehicle as originally manufactured or any similar part or component manufactured or sold for replacement or improvement of such system, part, or component or as an accessory, or addition to the motor vehicle.

(e) "Manufacturer" means any person engaged in the manufacturing or assembling of motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment, including any person importing motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment for resale.

(f) "Distributor" means any person engaged in the sale and distribution of motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment for resale.

(g) "Dealer" means any person who is engaged in the sale and distribution of new motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment primarily to purchasers who in good faith purchase any such vehicle or equipment for purposes other than resale.

(h) "State" includes each of the several States. the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Canal Zone, and American Samoa.

(1) "Interstate commerce" means commerce between any place in a State and any place in another State, or between places in the same State through another State.

(1) "Secretary" means Secretary of Commerce.

(k) "Person" means an individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other form of business enterprise.

(1) "Defect" includes any defect in design, construction, components, or materials in motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment. (m) "United States district courts" means the Federal district courts of the United States and the United States courts of the Commonwealth of Putero Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Canal Zone, and American Samoa.

(n) "Vehicle Equipment Safety Commission" means the Commission established pursuant to the joint resolution of the Congress relating to highway traffic safety, approved August 20, 1958 (72 Stat. 635), or as it may be hereafter reconstituted by law. Interim Federal motor vehicle safety standards

SEC. 102. (a) Subject to the provisions of this section, on or before January 31, 1967. the Secretary shall prescribe, by order, and publish in the Federal Register interim motor vehicle safety standards for motor

vehicles and motor vehicle equipment, which shall be based upon existing public and private safety standards.

(b) Interim standards prescribed pursuant to this section shall become effective on a date specified by the Secretary which shall be no sooner than one hundred and eighty days nor later than one year from the date on which such standards are published. Such standards shall remain in effect until new and revised Federal motor vehicle safety standards become effective pursuant to section 103.

(c) In prescribing interim standards under this section, the Secretary shall

(1) consult with the Vehicle Equipment Safety Commission, with other State and interstate agencies (including legislative committees), with motor vehicle and motor vehicle equipment manufacturers, and with scientific, technical, business, and consumer organizations, as he deems appropriate.

(2) consider, in the light of available technical information, whether any such proposed standard reasonable, practicable, and appropriate for the particular type of motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment for which it is prescribed; and

(3) consider the extent to which such standards will contribute to carrying out the purposes of this Act.

Revised Federal motor vehicle safety
standards

SDC. 103. (a) Subject to the provisions of this section, on or before January 31, 1968, the Secretary shall prescribe, by order, in accordance with sections 3, 4, and 6 of the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 1002, 1003, 1005) new and revised motor vehicle safety standards for motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment.

(b) Standards prescribed pursuant to this section shall become effective on a date specified by the Secretary which shall be no sooner than one hundred eighty days nor later than one year from the date on which such standards are published, except that, for good cause shown, the Secretary may specify a later effective date, and in such event he shall publish his reasons therefor. (c) In prescribing standards under this section, the Secretary shall

(1) consider relevant available motor vehicle safety data, including the results of research, development, testing and evaluation activities conducted pursuant to this Act;

(2) consult with the Vehicle Equipment Safety Commission, and such other State or interstate agencies (including legislative committees) as he deems appropriate, which consultation shall include (A) informing the Commission and other agencies of all proposed Federal vehicle safety standards and amendments thereto and (B) affording such Commission and other agencies an opportunity to study and comment on such standards and amendments;

(3) consider whether any such proposed standard is reasonable, practicable and appropriate for the particular type of motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment for which it is prescribed; and

(4) consider the extent to which such standards will contribute to carrying out the purposes of this Act.

(d) The order prescribing standards pursuant to this section shall include as part of the concise general statement of the basis and purpose of such standards (required by section 4(b) of the Administrative Procedure Act) the following:

(1) A statement of the principal purpose of any such standard, written in language capable of being understood by the general public;

(2) Wherever appropriate to a particular standard, a statement of the range of operating conditions for which such standard is deemed effective; and

(3) A technical statement which sets forth the data necessary to an evaluation of the standard by persons competent in the particular technical area involved.

(e) For the purposes of this section interested persons afforded an opportunity to participate in the rule-making process to prescribe or amend standards under this section shall include manufacturers, distributors, and dealers of motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment, public and private organizations and individuals engaged to a significant extent in the promotion or study of motor vehicle safety and automobile insurance underwriters.

(f) Nothing in this title or in the Administrative Procedure Act shall be construed to make sections 7 and 8 of such Act appllcable to proceedings under this title.

(g) In prescribing standards under this section for any motor vehicle of substantially the same type and specifications as a vehicle subject to safety regulations under part II of the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 301 et seq.), the Secretary shall not adopt standards which differ in substance from the safety regulations issued pursuant to such Act.

(h) The Secretary shall review the motor vehicle safety standards prescribed pursuant to this section at least once every two years, and may, to the extent necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act, by order, amend, such standards in accordance with the procedural requirements set forth in this section. Each such amendment shall become effective on the date specified by the Secretary which shall be no sooner than one hundred and eighty days nor later than one year from the date on which such amendment is published, except that, for good cause shown, the Secretary may specify a later effective date, and in such event he shall publish his reasons

therefor.

Preemption

SEC. 104. No State, or political subdivision thereof, shall establish a safety standard for a motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment in interstate commerce which differs from a motor vehicle safety standard issued in conformance with the provisions of this title with respect to such motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment; and any law, regulation, or ordinance purporting to establish such differing safety standard and providing a penalty or punishment for an act of noncompliance therewith shall be null and vold. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent a State or political subdivision thereof from establishing requirements more stringent than 8 Federal motor vehicle safety standard for the exclusive purpose of its own procurement. Judicial review of orders

SEC. 105. (a) (1) In a case of actual controversy as to the validity of any order under section 102 or section 103, any person who will be adversely affected by such order when it is effective may at any time prior to the sixtieth day after such order is issued file a petition with the United States court of appeals for the circuit wherein such person resides or has his principal place of business, for a judicial review of such order. A copy of the petition shall be forthwith transmitted by the clerk of the court to the Secretary or other officer designated by him for that purpose. The Secretary thereupon shall file in the court the record of the proceedings on which the Secretary based his order, as provided in section 2112 of title 28 of the United States Code.

(2) If the petitioner applies to the court for leave to adduce additional evidence, and shows to the satisfaction of the court that such additional evidence is material and that there were reasonable grounds for the failure to adduce such evidence in the proceeding before the Secretary, the court may order such additional evidence (and evi

dence in rebuttal thereof) to be taken before the Secretary, and to be adduced upon the hearing. in such manner and upon such terms and conditions as to the court may seem proper. The Secretary may modify his findings as to the facts, or make new findings, by reason of the additional evidence so taken, and he shall file such modified or new findings, and his recommendation, if any, for the modification or setting aside of his original order, with the return of such additional evidence.

(3) Upon the filing of the petition referred to in paragraph (1) of this subsection, the court shall have jurisdiction to review the order in accordance with section 10 of the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 1009) and to grant appropriate relief as provided in such section.

(4) The judgment of the court affirming or setting aside. in whole or in part, any such order of the Secretary shall be final, subject to review by the Supreme Court of the United States upon certiorari or certification as provided in section 1254 of title 28 of the United States Code.

(5) Any action instituted under this subsection shall survive notwithstanding any change in the person occupying the office of Secretary or any vacancy in such office.

(6) The remedies provided for in this subsection shall be in addition to and not in substitution for any other remedies provide by law.

(b) A certified copy of the transcript of the record and proceedings under this section shall be furnished by the Secretary to any interested party at his request, and on payment of the ccsts thereof, and shall be admissible in any proceeding arising under or in respect to this title, irrespective of whether proceedings with respect to the order have previously been instituted or become final under subsection (a). Research, development, testing and evalua

tion

SEC. 106. (a) The Secretary, in cooperation with other departments and agencies of the Federal Government, is authorized to undertake appropriate research, development, testing and evaluation for motor vehicle safety and motor vehicle safety standards to accomplish the purposes of this Act and, in exercising this authority, may perform the following functions:

(1) gathering or collecting existing data from any source for the purpose of determining the relationship between motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment performance characteristics and (A) accidents involving motor vehicles, and (B) the occurrence of death or personal injury resulting from such accidents;

(2) purchasing, notwithstanding any other provision of law, commercially available models of motor vehicles or items of motor vehicle equipment, and contracting for the fabrication of motor vehicle equipment, for research and testing purposes, including the testing of motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment to accomplish the purposes of this Act even though such tests may damage or destroy the vehicles or equipment being tested;

(3) selling or otherwise disposing of motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment tested pursuant to subsection (2), notwithstanding any other provision of law, and reimbursing the proceeds of such sale or disposal into the appropriation or fund current and available for the purpose of carrying out this title: Provided, That motor vehicles and motor equipment which have been rendered irreparably unsafe for use on the highways, by testing pursuant to subsection (2), shall be sold or disposed of in a manner insuring that they shall not be used on the highways or on vehicles for use on the highways;

(4) performing or having performed all research, development, evaluation and in