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Show Utah Gets Third Driver Education Award; Budget Cuts Reduces Driver Training For the third successive year Utah has been selected to receive re-ceive the Award of Merit for its high school driver education program, pro-gram, by the Association of Casualty Cas-ualty and Surety Companies. The award is based upon the number of high schools and students enrolled, en-rolled, and the quality of instruction instruc-tion provided. Performance standards stand-ards are established by the national na-tional organization, in comparison compari-son with the other 47 states and the District of Columbia. Thirty high schools out of 76 in the state, with a total enrollment of 5,800 students, participated in the program during the 1952-53 school year. This renresented p 56 enrollment figure, and placed Utah 20th among the 23 states recognized for achievement. achieve-ment. The Utah Safety Council, in announcing an-nouncing the driver education award, predicted that this would probably be the last year for sovne time Utah would receive such recognition. This gloomy opinion grows out of announced nlans by school officials to eliminate elim-inate driver training in several school districts because of budgetary bud-getary problems. It reflects, too, the Safety Council indicated, the failure of the Utah Legislature to support, and adopt a proposal propos-al to expand the program. "The cut-back in driver training train-ing in our high schools is a tra-pic tra-pic loss to Utah, and its effects will be keenly felt in the months and years ahead, through otherwise other-wise preventable traffic accidents involving our teen-agers," de-jdared de-jdared G. Ernest Bourne, executive execu-tive secretary of the Utah Safety Safe-ty Council. "Without exception, wherever such training has been employed, .the accident rate has been significantly signi-ficantly reduced among the younger groups. This has meant not only a saving in precious human hu-man lives or permanent disab- irg injuries, and the inestimable suffering implied, but also a tremendous tre-mendous saving In money. Of the $20,000,000 annual economic loss to Utah each year resulting from t'affic accidents, our teen-agers are responsible for nearly $2,500,-000. $2,500,-000. The expansion of driver training that the Utah Safety Council proposed to the legislature legisla-ture last session would have cut this figure in half. |