Now, it’s America’s romantic road – but, for decades, Route 66 was also extremely deadly. Accidents spurred the vehicle industry to improve safety.

IN THE era of Route 66 renaissance where the old road is viewed as America’s longest attraction there is often a myopic view that centers on neon-lit nights, tail fins, truck stop diners, and quaint old motels.

There is a tendency to forget that it was once known as ‘Bloody 66’ because of the staggering number of traffic fatalities.

But tragedies and carnage on Route 66, as well as on other US highways, spawned innovation.

Likewise, with accidents that resulted from automobiles that required cranks to start, that had mechanical brakes or that had plate glass windshields and laminated papier mâché bodies over wood framing. A countless number of highway engineering and automotive technological innovations have their origins in tragedy.

As example, the electric starter that was introduced on the 1912 Cadillac. In 1910 a woman was driving an automobile across the Belle Island Bridge in Detroit, Michigan, when her engine stalled. In a display of chivalry Byron T. Carter, a prolific inventor and manufacturer of the friction drive Cartercar, stopped to lend a hand.

His attempt to crank start the car proved fatal. The spark was not retarded so the engine kicked back, and Carter's arm and jaw were shattered. Mere minutes after the accident two Cadillac engineers, Ernest Sweet and Bill Foltz, arrived. They started the woman’s car and took Byron Carter to the hospital where he died of complications several weeks later.

As it so happened, Carter was a good friend of Henry Leland, an automotive engineer that was instrumental in the launching of Cadillac. According to Leland’s son, when Sweet and Foltz reported the event to Leland he said, “I'm sorry I ever built an automobile. Those vicious cranks! I won't have Cadillac's hurting people that way.”

And so, Charles Kettering, a brilliant inventor that had developed the electric cash register, was assigned to work with Cadillac engineers to find a solution. The electric starter was the result.

In 1909 a mere 125,000 automobiles were built in the United States. Twenty years later automobiles rolling from factories numbered in the millions. This transformed the urban landscape, and the rural roads and highways.

A soaring number of traffic accidents at street intersections in Detroit led to the introduction of the first tri colour traffic light in 1919. The ever-increasing flow of automobile traffic on roads designed for horse drawn carriages gave rise to a revolution in highway design such as was made manifest in the first cloverleaf interchange that opened in 1929.

Urbanisation, the increasing number of cars using Route 66 in the Los Angeles metropolitan, and a surge in pedestrians being struck by automobiles were contributing factors in the development of the Arroyo Seco Parkway. Officially dedicated on December 30, 1940, the parkway connected Pasadena with Los Angeles. It was the first modern type limited access freeway west of the Mississippi River. And today it is the only designated scenic byway in a major metropolitan area.

Giving thought to safety while on the road predates the automobile. But, again, it was tragedy that sparked innovation.

Edward J. Claghorn patented the first seat belt on February 10, 1885. He had devised the idea as a means of protecting passengers in New York City taxi cabs injured in accidents caused by runaway teams.  

After extensive testing Nash introduced the seat belt as an option in 1949 Ambassador models. Even though additional testing by other auto makers and the federal government proved that lives could be saved with seat belt usage, they were not mandated and so faded the idea into obscurity.

It was a media campaign about a preventable tragedy that made the public take notice of seat belts. In 1955, actor James Dean died behind the wheel of his Porsche in a spectacular two-vehicle crash in the Southern California desert. Investigators determined that he most likely would have survived the crash had he had been using seat belts.

In 1955, Swedish automaker Volvo launched a safety-first themed campaign, and then introduced a new line of automobiles with seat belts as standard equipment. It was an industry first, and a milestone. Three years later Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin invented the three-point seatbelt, and it too was offered as standard equipment.

Innovation rooted in tragedy is the story of automotive, and highway, evolution. Radial tires. Standardised highway warning signs. Hydraulic brakes. Safety glass. Collision warning systems and automatic braking. Pavement striping. Airbags. The interstate highway system. Each of these developments have as their foundation carnage and disaster. 

Written by Jim Hinckley of Jim Hinckley’s America