10/28/2012:
For those of you who wonder why cars often come with doors that automatically lock at certain speeds, or how certain seatbelt laws came to pass—
On this date in 1937, four-year-old Evelyn Kiebert of Mandan was recovering from injuries she sustained when she decided to open her car door. Unfortunately, the car was travelling at 60 miles an hour. Apparently the door was rear-hinged, because the news account said the wind caught the door and snapped it back, with little Evelyn, still clinging to the handle, being thrown from the car, “catapulted into a clump of weeds.”
She sustained bruises and a scalp wound, but otherwise, much to her parents’ relief, the four-year-old girl was unharmed.
Dakota Datebook written by Sarah Walker
Source:
The Fargo Forum, Wednesday morning, October 27, 1937