Interpretation ID: nht91-4.20

DATE: June 12, 1991

FROM: Quang Van Nguyen -- Inventor, Houston Express Reprographics, Inc.

TO: Samuel K. Skinner -- Secretary of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation

COPYEE: Phil Gramm

TITLE: Re: New Invention for Auto Safety

ATTACHMT: Attached to letter dated 8-7-91 from Paul Jackson Rice to Quang Van Nguyen (A38; Std. 108)

TEXT:

According to the World News Report, in 1988 alone, there were 25,614 automobile passengers killed in an automobile accidents in the U.S.. Among these, the majority of the accidents did not occur because of the somewhat negligence of the drivers, but rather, and more importantly, they occurred because of the miscommunication between the drivers themselves.

A while ago, I, myself, was a witness of a accident of this nature on the highway. What occurred was that a car from behind hit a car in the front in the back and killed one woman and two children. This incident occurred because the car in front was in the center lane and had an engine failure. The driver naturally put on the emergency light and tried to move to the right lane quickly to avoid being hit; but unfortunately, as the car was changing lanes, another car, coming from the back of the right lane, hit the right rear end of the car with the engine problem. The impact was so bad that three of the passengers died instantly. However, the real reason that this accident occurred is that WHEN THE EMERGENCY LIGHTS ARE BLINKING, THE TURN SIGNAL LIGHTS DO NOT WORK AT ALL!! I understand that we cannot avoid an engine failure, a dead battery, or running out of gas on the road or highway; this will happen to all of us at least on time during our lives; but, how can the car behind know that the car in front has an emergency and wants or needs to change lanes??

Therefore, I would like to present to you my new invention, the EMERGENCY AND SAFETY LIGHTS (see copies attached). With my new invention, accidents like this can be avoided and thousands of lives can be saved. This is because my patent pending emergency lights is a very simple device which ALLOWS THE DRIVER OF AN AUTOMOBILE TO SET THE EMERGENCY LIGHTS ON WHEN NEEDED FOR AN EMERGENCY; BUT, RATHER THAN NOT BEING ABLE TO USE THE SIGNAL LIGHTS, THAT DRIVER WILL BE ABLE TO USE THEM AT THE SAME TIME WITH THE EMERGENCY LIGHTS, acknowledging to other drivers that he intends to turn or make a lane change.

I truly wish that your department will support my invention and approve it to be used for all types of automobiles in the U.S.A. because it costs less than $25.00 and it will help avoid unnecessary accidents and save our society thousands of lives.

I thank you very much in advance for you time and I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Figure 1 -- Drawing of Upper Installation (graphics omitted)

Figure 2 -- Drawing of Lower Installation (graphics omitted)

Figure 3 -- Wiring Diagram for Blinking Portion of the E.L.S.

(graphics omitted)

Figure 4 -- Wiring Diagram for Braking Portion of the E.L.S.

(graphics omitted)