10K Fresh Voices | The Original Crash Test Dummy: Prof James ‘Crash’ Ryan’s work and advocacy for automobile safety

Look around your car and try to count how many safety features there are: seat belt, a padded dashboard. And then there are the hidden ones: air bags, crumple zone, reflective stickers. Almost every part of a modern day car, from the volume knobs to the shape of the hood, is designed with safety in mind—but it wasn’t always that way. Though driving is still quite dangerous, it used to be worse, and back in the 1950s one University of Minnesota professor put his body on the line to make automobiles safer. KFAI’s Matthew Schneeman has the story.

This story was written and produced by Matthew Schneeman. Erika Janik is the managing editor of MinneCulture. Support for MinneCulture is provided by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.