Friday 9th September 1966

In response to the national uproar over automobile safety prompted by Ralph Nader’s book ‘Unsafe at Any Speed’, the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was signed into law. Nader’s book targeted the American automobile industry’s neglect of safety issues, using General Motors’ dangerous Corvair model as a focus for his criticism. Congress responded to the nation’s concern by passing a new bill, which established federal safety standards with strict penalties for violations. At the signing of the bill, President Johnson assured Nader and a crowd of several hundred that safety was “no luxury item, no optional extra.”