OCR Text |
Show 4-H Youths Drive For Safety r r speed j Jw A few teen-agers may be a nii'iias-e on the highways but almost half a million others are working daily to protect ynur life on the road. That's what newsmen learned when they interviewed winners in the 1 954 National 4-H Safety Piosram recently at the 33rd National 4-H Club Congress in Chicago. Eight national winners received ? 300 college scholarships from General Gen-eral Motors, Safety Program awards donor. GM also provided all-expense all-expense trips to the Club Congic.;.5 for national and state winners. "Sure, some teen-agers are reckless drivers," said Jim Messerschmitt, 19, Elizabeth, Colorado, a national winner. "That's all the more reason why a lot of us feel teen-agers must take the lead in fighting for safer roads and safer driving." At last count, more than 48G,000 youngsters took part in the Safety Program. That compares with 78,000 just before GM became awards donor 10 years ago. Although the program is concerned with farm and home as well a highway safety, participants are giving more and more emphasis to saving lives and property on the road. Young Messerschmitt, for example, helped plan the first Teen-Age Traffic Association in the nation and in 1954 attended the White House Conference on Highway Safety. Thousand.'! of other young crusaders for road safety have organized safe driving clubs, given radio talks on highway hazards, placed safety posters in store windows and encouraged public officials to erect warning Bigns at highway danger spots. Some youngsters, like Sara Ellen Phillips, 17, Midville, Ga.,had their interest in traffic safety spurred by accidents that struck close to home. Sara Ellen began the work that led to a national 4-H award after three of her schr.ol mates were killed in a highway accident. Contributions to highway safety also helped win national awards for Pcgy Pfeffcikoin, IK, West Friendship, Md.; Norlene Lawson, 19, Kenyon, Minn.; Ja-'.; Martin, 20, Gardnerville, Nev. ; Ella Blossom, 18. Hoffman, N. C. ; Ralph Ray Swinford, Jr., 17, Wichita Falls, Texas; and IKlorene Richardson, 17, Cedar City, Utah. Remember their names next time someone talks about teen-agers running wild on the roads and remember the 4-H safety army, half a million strong. |