From 1937—“Highway Mania”

This 15 minute film was produced in 1937 for the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles. Narrated by Lowell Thomas, the voice of Fox Movietone newsreels from the 1920s through 1952 and known for publicising the exploits of T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”), the film presents a catalogue of dangerous maneuvers by “ordinary drivers” which result in the war casualty magnitude of deaths and injuries on U.S. highways. Appearing in the film is then New Jersey governor Harold G. Hoffman, whose career Wikipedia sums up as follows:

Harold Giles Hoffman (February 7, 1896 – June 4, 1954) was an American businessman and Republican Party politician who served as the 41st Governor of New Jersey from 1935 to 1938. His time in office was marked by controversy over his support for a sales tax and interference in the Lindbergh kidnapping case. He died while subject to an investigation for embezzlement from his bank and the state government, which he confessed to his daughter before his death.

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