Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published March 17, 2004

Americans love that deadly horsepower

Everyone has pet peeves and I'm no exception. I am appalled by the emphasis on speed that is appearing in more and more automobile commercials. Sleek cars traveling at ridiculous rates are shown speeding along a lonely road. Some are filmed in high mountain country as they zoom along at speeds far above the legal limit. This makes the thrill even greater and if something goes wrong the result is even deadlier.

Companies are bowing to what the public wants. A recent article featured the growing popularity of souped-up V-8 engines. Americans are renewing their love affair with horsepower. Several weeks ago USA Today ran a series of articles on that obsession and how it has turned us into a nation of speeders.

Several surveys prove how caution has been thrown to the wind. One surveyed 18 states to find the percentage of all tickets issued for going 80 mph or faster on interstate highways. In 1991 it was 20 percent but in 2002 it had increased to 66 percent.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's traffic safety facts a 4,000 pound vehicle traveling 60 mph has a crash force of 60 tons. Fatality rates per 1,000 crashes at 60 mph were 16.9. In the year 2000 12,350 deaths were caused by speed-related crashes and injuries totaled 690,000. The economic impact was $40.4 billion.

When speeders are apprehended they use a variety of reasons for ignoring the speed limit. Usually they are late for a meeting or appointment or they may admit they were just in a hurry. Some get on their soap box and declare it is their right to drive at any speed. Often these drivers point to the Autobahn in Germany as a splendid example for no speed limit.

Once in my life I had the experience of traveling on the Autobahn. It was a nerve-racking experience made even worse when my son-in-law, the driver, realized he had misjudged how much gas he had. When he found the needle was on empty we were traveling in the far lane away from any exit. We all held our breath as he negotiated a treacherous path between cars moving at hair-raising speeds. We made it to a spot where we could pull off the frightening race track just as the engine sputtered and died.

How do you explain this need to live life at such a fast pace? Is it a sense of power or that your time is more important than others? Love of speed is not new in this country I was reminded when I read an article in a March 1909 Chronicle. The story originally appeared in the New York Times reporting on a sermon delivered by Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst at the Madison Square Presbyterian Church.

It noted the pastor deprecated the swollen ambition and frantic endeavor of the present-day American life. Dr. Parkhurst said, "American hustle is putting its blight upon everything that really deserves to be called substantial American progress."

In that day real horse power was still in abundance. Today that American "hustle" depends on not four legs, but four wheels and tremendous horse power captured in a motor under the car hood.

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.