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Show by Jack Glasner Florence Gallagher, Miss Chicago of 1955-56 and a runner-up in the Miss America contest, after she made a 10,000-mile coast-to-coasttrip speaking to teen-agers as Miss Driver Education. She came away convinced that our kids want driver-education courses and that they know what the classes can do for their own safety. She especially remembers a Texas teen-ager’s remark, “The training might keep us alive long enough to makeuse of our education!” Here are some shocking statistics which keep parents awake at night and indicate that teen- agers know whatMiss Gallagher was talking about: Every two minutes a person between 15 and 25 years of age is killed or injured in an automobile accident. These youths make up only 15 percent of our drivers, yet they are involved in 25 percentof all fatal accidents. Teen-agers themselves are doing some thinking about these appalling statistics and, more important, they are acting. In New Orleans, for instance, 60 high-school members of the New Orleans Teen-Age Traffic Safety Council have Stiff, ‘sore muscles? urged the following three-pronged program: 1. Increasing the quality and quantity of driver education in high schools, and particularly emphasizing safety habits and road courtesy rather than just the technique of operating a car. 2. Stressing that parents must set a good example when they are behind the wheel or teaching their children to drive. 3. Increasing self-government amongteen drivers, especially by means of student-operated courts in the community as well as in the schools. As one might expect, there’s already a shortage of driver-training instructors. Onetrouble is lack of funds, and it has been suggested that this could be solved by an additional fee for drivers’ licenses. The average cost is now $1.07 a year, and safety experts believe that most citizens would not object to paying more if they could be shown that their money was going for a lifesaving program. The NEA-approved driver-education course consists of 30 hours of classroom study and six hours behind the wheel of a specially equipped car. Youths who take the course not only have better driving records than those who don’t, but they have a better mental attitude toward safe driving, too. Experts think this is one of the best things about the program. Mentalattitude is elusive to pin down, but perhaps what one boy from an East Coast school told Miss Gallagher mayillustrate it. Orphaned by ‘ Here’s quick relief when weekend chores make muscles say “‘ouch” You'll get soothing relief instantly when you massage Absorbine Jr. into your skin. Absorbine Jr. stimulates local circulation. Helps-counter pressure that makes muscles ache. Soothes nerve endings. Absorbine Jr. is famous for the wonderfulrelief it has given hundreds of sufferers. (Letters in our files tell us so.) Buy Absorbine Jr. Not greasy, notsticky, it rubs in all the way! Guaranteed satisfaction or money will be refunded. an auto crash, the boy explained that his father always had been impatient with other drivers and often took chances in passing slow cars. The boy added, “I don’t want to end up in a W. F. Young, Inc. Springfield, Mass. smashup because I did something wrong. But we don’t have driver classes here, so where am I going to learn to drive the way I should?” ABSORBINE JR. There is no answer unless parents and interested citizens keep working to get driver education established as a regular part of the school WANTED program. The kids want it; they know whatit can do. Nowit’s up to their elders. Teen-Age Divert a They can becomesafe and sane motorists if we make driving a regular part of the highschool Fait s v4 Miss Gallagher used newspapers, TV, radio, and personal appearances to remind the nation that ignorance of the auto age and its demands can result in untold tragedy. High-school driving classes could reduce teen-agers’ high auto accident rate, Miss Gallagher believes. Family Weekly, November 24, 1957 23 PrOrrerT Terre Pe ey Pe ee ee Le Oe ee ee eee ee EE PE eS RE eee le SCHOOLS oF America teach our youth almost everything in modern life—everything except the one thing they certainly will have to face every day: the automobile. Driver education is taught in about a third of our high schools, which means that only a small percentage of U. S. teen-agers learn how to drive through an organized program of classroom and behind-the-wheel experience. And surveys indicate that trained young drivers have only half as many accidents and traffic violations as do their unschooled contemporaries. The National Education Association says, “Driver education is our greatest hope for dealing successfully with the growing problem of man and the motor vehicle.” Police and safety authorities across the country agree that the best place to teach safe driving is in high school. This idea was endorsed wholeheartedly by MEDICALLY APPROVED! faseline Your First Aid Kit in a Jar‘Vaseline’ is the reg. trade mark of Chesebrough-Pond’s inc. Miracle Cushion rae False Teeth Som GG n ums Snug® brand Denture Cushions are a triumph of science, a sensanew plastic relining t that gets rid of the annoyance _ and irritation of tooee, any fitting false teeth. Snug eases so tated gums due bor to poose fitting Meats Applied in a ie minutes, makes the wobbliest plates sta, Snug re-liners can last from 2 to 6 months. 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