One for the Road

For more than 20 years, the New York Daily News has waged implacable war against reckless drivers. Its weapon: the singularly effective crayon of Editorial Cartoonist Clarence D. Batchelor. His "Inviting the Undertaker" series has warned against passing on curves, exceeding the speed limit, taking "one for the road"--all varieties of danger on wheels.

One day last fortnight, Cartoonist Batchelor, whose personal driving record is well-nigh unblemished, finished the 1,001st contribution to his crusade, drove out for a weekend at his country home in Connecticut. There, behind the wheel of his 1950 Jaguar sedan (Conn, license ITU--for Inviting the Undertaker), with his wife at his side. Cartoonist Batchelor ran head-on into real-life inspiration for his 1,002nd traffic cartoon.

Just outside Chester, Conn., Batchelor suddenly found himself in a traffic crisis that even he had not dealt with in his thousand tries. His brakes failed. Instead of shifting into lower gear, pulling off the road to the right, grabbing for his emergency brake, or simply switching off the ignition and coasting to a stop, Driver Batchelor invited the undertaker. Recognizing what he thought was an open spot ahead, Batchelor swerved left at full speed--into the wrong lane and collision course with a bakery truck. But despite Batchelor's invitation, the undertaker declined. The 74-year-old cartoonist survived scalp and face cuts and multiple bruises; his wife suffered a collapsed lung, fractures of the left wrist and pelvic bone.

Mending (along with his wife) in the hospital, Batchelor allowed that the experience had left him earless but not careless: "It isn't every day that a safety cartoonist can be the beneficiary of his own mistakes."

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