Show psychology THAT BLAMES BAD DRIVING twitchell Twi kholl scores accident prone 0 theory theor y A a ON CHILDHOOD BEHAVIOR IS DEBUNKED by H 1 I PHILLIPS ON ROAD MENACES A speaker at a convention of psychiatrists declares that accident prone auto drivers aie are people who at the wheel of a car behave just as they have behaved from child hood it Is the folks who have been inconsiderate intolerant of authority and generally antisocial anti social from wancy infancy up who drive carelessly he says ays it if a mans personal life Is isi marked by caution aution and considers tion his driving will be marked by it if ills his life Is marked by contrary characteristics his driving will be so bo marked the speaker insisted elmer twitchell the eminent student of human behavior disagrees and hotly the delicatessen dealers have a name for it he ha said today any theory that auto ests behave the way they do because they threw their rattle at the nurse in infancy resented the school schoolteacher schoolteachers teachers a authority and robbed birds nests Is the bunk the plain inescapable fact is chat the minute a human being finds himself at the wheel of an auto he be becomes a different personality A fellow who takes off his bis hat in elevators helps old ladles ladies across streets and writes books on politeness will chase his fellow man up an alley yell at school children and cuss out pedestrians for getting la in ills hs way once he Is in a flivver the kindliest kind kindi liest lest gentleman in the community known tor for hla his warm smile takes on the instincts of a gorilla the minute he finds himself tooling the sedan down main street 1 I will lay you 50 to 1 that the psych psychiatrist hia trist who made that speech at the convention Is a refined well bred gents gent whose heart bleeds tor for his fel lowman when afoot but who leers at red lights barks at fellow creat creatures uns and snaps at policemen when hurrying through town in the old boiler ilis its 0 one ne of the mysteries lits of life and it has nothing to do with childhood generally speaking peaking I 1 can stand on any treat street in america and point out college professors lawyers school principals gardenia growers lecturers on good manners and men of chester fieldian roaring by and snarling at slow gaited pedestrians with the ferocity displayed by gangsters fugitives from chain gangs and all around heels im no exception mores the pity on my feet I 1 am sweet as they come I 1 am a mod elof good behavior in any company I 1 open doors for ladles ladies show ahoi v the aged every consideration and try to be gracious on a broad scale but its a quick i switch fromar fromi from Dr jekyll to mr 1 lyde hyde when I 1 take the wheel of the old la ja and so do you and you and youl you I 1 theres something about abou t an automobile that changes human character early childhood tendencies my eyel here are some interesting cass case histories on accident prone drivers offered as subjects for apsy ch iatric study CASE 1 jeptha Finch butt 32 truck driver mr Finch rinch butt habitually bitu ally drives a 13 15 ton trailer recklessly ignoring all speed signs takes turns at 60 per hour and has never been known to heed a stop light report A As s a baby jeptha was wad allowed to pound on high highchair chair with bottle mother had nine ahli i dren and was too busy to restraint restrain his early instinct to spear live goldi gold i fish with wilh fork early schooling was under teachers who failed to send an all other pupils home and just concentrate cen on jeptha CA CASE SE 2 geoffrey buffit 48 40 0 oil 14 truck operator and chronic weaver through dense traffic geoffrey hast has a batting average of one bad acci I i dent per month but always beems to get out of it through indifference of authorities he particularly loveal coasting downhill through school zones zones reports report his inclinations ar arai all due to a selfish mother who p used to wheel geoffrey around ant a baby carriage unequipped d w with ita brakes and horn the fa father thir never read emily post CASE 3 Twiggs by cropper 19 college freshman Twiggs by feels unnecessarily curbed If asked to do dol less than 55 per hour in city centers and 70 in suburbs loves to drive no hands across city play i grounds report from age age of tiri months to year and a halfre wao wat allowed to scream at nurse from age of 3 to 5 instinct to pour ho hot porridge on the cat uncurbed fai fa pa i ther bought him a velocipede to tod early and failed to read him the laws on rules of road each night nig ht before putting him to bed CASE 4 mrs arabella stone 29 this woman backs api upi up without signals makes make U turns oni impulse never bothers to bavei have brakes tightened and frequently forgets to put on lights at nighta |