California: The Biggest Crash

Although by its own figures California has long since overtaken New York to become the most populous state in the Union. Governor Pat Brown picked last week to celebrate the great occasion. The Chamber of Commerce Managers Association brightly suggested that each of the state's 9,000,000 motorcar owners honk their horns in unison on Dec. 28. But, as it happened. H-day came at minus7 in perhaps the most spectacular, horn-honking, steel-crunching traffic pileup in vehicular history.

The Santa Ana Freeway, on which cars whoosh past such Southern California institutions as Disneyland and...

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