| Show practice fields for beginning begina ng drivers J H i I 1 J IT cities cilles believe street or highway Is poor answer to where can I 1 learn to drive chicago pioneers with schools for novices illy by WILLIAM C UTLEY TEY EY I 1 yuh crazy lug why boncha learn to drive a H x car this irritable query often springing from inspirations spi rations other than mans fellowship f ellow ship with man habitually follows a little fender denting in traffic or a close shave on the highway but up to now there has been only one place to learn how to drive in a street or highway Safety minded individuals and organizations caniza tion s are beginning to realize that wa this Is about as sensible as teaching a person to swim by pushing him off abe dock even less sensible perhaps for a man pushed oft off the dock would seldom be endangering dan gering the lives of anyone but himself but a novice driver let loose in lives of h hundreds un chis inexperienced hands now in the larger cities notably chicago there is a movement under way to correct this error through the construction of practice courses course s and schools for beginning drivers when beginners have finished the courses a and nd passed all the tests they should actually be better drivers easthan than millions who have piloted an automobile tor for years and they will have had a lot of tun fun getting their education there are two of these fields now under construction in chicago one of them a great 30 acre project on the lake front designed to meet the needs of any citizen who wishes to learn and another at one of the large high schools designed primarily for instruction of youth presents realistic situations the lake front field one of the finest examples of the movement iii hi the nation will be finished next summer it is being built because for a period of mon months about persons a week have ave been i thoughtful enough of the safety of others to ask policemen where cani learn to drive the school being built in response to their queries Is made possible through the co operation of the works progress administration husbands and wives will be particularly ticul arly interested if 11 the driving school idea becomes a national one as indications are it may wives will no longer hava to hear tha a ats the gearst gears when their novice shifting Is not timed just josf right and the husbands will no longer squirm amid the tooting of impatient horns from behind when their spouses kill the engine 4 virtually every situation that might be met in actual driving can be rehearsed on the lake front course when it la Is finished every hazard known to the street or highway can be reproduced there will be three miles of road forget all their instruction until it is too late here the student will be able to see just what his car will do in a skid few fortunately are acquainted with the terror that grips a beginner when a small child suddenly darts out in front of him on a busy street during his first or second time out alone with the car in this school there will be another mechanical device which will simu i late a boy running across the street or child darting out from behind a tree or car because it would happen when the student Is not expecting it he will be able to tell exactly how he would react under the real situation lie he can then concentrate cen upon correcting his mistakes othere if there have been any according to otto K X Jell jelinek nek the park district engineer who Is in charge chaice of the project this will be oneff one of the chief advantages of driving course instructions the beginner will have to act under typical conditions that he will run into when henout he hes sout out on his bis own sixteen to twenty hours licurs perhaps the most important aspects of these schools will be the attention which they will undoubtedly attract to the need for I 1 expert driving inspru instruction atio ii which exists even among I 1 experienced li 1 daiv drivers rs it is ii designed to provide so much sport in learning that many will sign up just for the fun of it it if theres one thing the american public likes to do that is take tests they can brag about their reaction time just as boringly as they can about their golf scores the chicago lake front school will instruct persons more than sixteen years of age free of charge the length of the course has been determined ter mined with the assistance odthe of the national safety council which has aided with most of the plans beginners will take 16 to 20 one hour periods of instruction part of the time will be spent in classes in a building adjacent to th the grounds there the driving aspirants will be shown many hypothetical cases by the use of dummy cars after that they will be turned into the field to put their lessons into practice dortho for those benot not owning dined to believe that youths are universally veri verbally ver sally ally reckless behind the wheel which they are not safety statistics reveal hope that driving lessons will become a nationally standard course course in the schools driving the sc school hool feels cant be taught from a text book so a drier ing course similar to the one described abaye is being built it if will have a moving picture auditorium dummy automobiles and real automobiles iles there will be 1000 1 rit feet of real macadam roadway 20 feet 0 4 one of the safety suggestions Is a gratin surface for bridges which permits snow to fall through to the river below wide along this drive the pupil will meet many of the same things he would in the street or highway signal lights IS S curves winding roads intersections alleys for backing practice banked curves and all the rest courses in safe driving says the national safety councils mag azine public safety are being given regularly in hundreds of schools throughout the country in many of these courses automobiles are used to give the students actual practice training but this is the first time in the united states that high school students taking a course in safe driving will have an opportunity to learn on an a practice field especially constructed for the purpose educational experts agree that them the principle behind the me method thodis is 0 IMP Z A Z IV IZ Z T 7 41 T alv f Z 14 4 9 A site of practice driving school on chicago lake front here the driver would encounter every type of street intersection curve highway sign and stop and go device that he would meet in actual driving conditions the school will be designed to make competent drivers out of those who cannot operate cars way in all there will be 2650 feet about half a mile devoted to high speed road A large field will accommodate tho those seon on their first or second lessons parking on a dime willbe will be taught in a special area areas with all kinds of parking conditions repton reproduced weather conditions simulated enrollees E in the course will be shown how to make a grade tall rall road crossing and there will be a real crossing tor for them to pass synchronized chroni zed stop and go gramc lights will greet them at intersections there will be W a service stavon station where they may learn to order needed to beep the bus going and see that they get what they ask tor for not even the weather will escape being a lesson in the course there will be a dark tunnel for or the reproduction of night driving conditions mechanical devices will simulate fog og and ram rain beginning drivers are perhaps frightened by nothing so much as skidding idding ek on wet or icy pavements be given an opportunity to try a little skidding under safe con dit laus in the chicago school A skid bowl will produce i all types of pavements tor for this purpose se most drivers ordinarily are told what they should do when the car starts skidding but skidding happens so quickly and unexpectedly that they their own carsa cars automobiles will be provided it is the feeling of the sponsors that nearly every american whether he be owns a car or not some time tima finds himself in a situa alon that would be improved it if he knew how to drive students will of course be allowed to use their own awn cars it if they prefer after comp completing letin the course the student is graduated and presented witha with a diploma which he may wave thenceforth in the face of any who belittle his driving skill exhibits of the developments in automotive and traffic engineering will be shown in the buildings at the school these will also house a testing laboratory a library of traffic and safety engineering and a public auditorium where accident prevention programs will be presented in lane technical high school in the same city it was discovered that nine out of every ten students really know how to drive a car some could shift gears step on the starter and make a car move it if necessary but there were only about 10 per cent who might have been classified as good drivers high bilg h school blazes trail As a result the high school this fall will begin to include in its instruction st courses lesso lessons in automobile driving those who are in one of the soun soundest deit in teaching practice 11 course Is compulsory the course will feature graded crossin crossings gsand and ramps which will enable stud students ants to be taught the art of backing a car on an incline this ibis will eliminate the excuse that a person can drive delv right or left but does not know how to back up william sears instructor in airplane and auto mechanics will have charge of the course at the high school it will be a required one he says it Is expected that about 2000 students will complete the course each semester That means that b by y the e end nd of junei june 1037 lane tech will have turned tamed out about high school students thoroughly trained and firmly grounded in safe driving students will be ba required to explain the meaning of the different traffic signals how to turn burn into main highways how to pass other cars how to turn left and right properly how to start and stop on a hill the actual demonstration driving on the track will come only after an intensive classroom instruction which has been carefully planned to lead logically to the final training outdoors we are now constructing dummy automobiles which will be i i 1 l used indoors I 1 a 0 western newspaper union |
