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Show PSYCHOLOGY THAT BLAMES BAD DRIVING . . . Tvitchell Scores 'Accident-Prone Theory ... ON CHILDHOOD BEHAVIOR IS DEBUNKED ' ' By H. I. PHILLIPS ON ROAD MENACES A speaker at a convention oi psychiatrists psy-chiatrists declares that accident-prone accident-prone auto drivers are people who, ,at the wheel of a car, behave just as they have behaved from child-'hood. child-'hood. It is the folks who have been Inconsiderate, intolerant of authority author-ity and generally anti-social from infancy up who drive carelessly, he says. "If a man's personal life is marked by caution and considera tion, his driving will be marked by it. If his life is marked by contrary characteristics his driving will be so marked," the speaker insisted. Elmer Twitchell, the eminent student of human behavior, disagrees. disa-grees. And hotly. "The delicatessen dealers have a name for it," he said today. "Any theory that auto-ists auto-ists behave the way they do because be-cause they threw their rattle at the nurse in infancy, resented the schoolteacher's authority and robbed birds' nests is the bunk. The plain inescapable fact is that the minute a human being finds himself at the wheel of an auto he becomes a different personality. "A fellow who takes off his hat in elevators, helps old 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 in his way, once he is in a flivver. The kindliest gentleman In the community, known for his warm smile, takes on the instincts in-stincts of a gorilla the minute he finds himself tooling the sedan down Main street. "I will lay you 50 to 1 that the psychiatrist who made that speech at the convention is a refined, well-bred well-bred gent whose heart bleeds for his fellowman when afoot, but who leers at red lights, barks at fellow creatures and snaps at policemen when hurrying through town in the old boiler. "It's one of the mysteries of life and it has nothing to do with childhood, generally speaking. I can stand on any street in America and point out college professors, lawyers, school principals, gardenia growers, lecturers on good manners and men of Chester-fieldian Chester-fieldian backgrounds roaring by and snarling at slow-gaited pedestrians with the ferocity displayed by gangsters, fugitives fugi-tives from chain gangs and all around heels. "I'm no exception, more's the pity. On my feet I am sweet as they come. I am a model of good behavior in any company. I open doors for ladies, show the aged every consideration and try to be gracious on a broad scale. But it's a quick switch from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde when I take the wheel of the old jaloppy. And so do you, and you and you! There's something some-thing about an automobile that changes human character. "Early childhood tendencipi my eye!" Here are some interesting case histories on "accident-prone" drivers, offered as subjects for psy-chiatric psy-chiatric study: CASE 1. Jeptha Finchbutt, 32 truck driver. Mr. Finchbutt habitually ha-bitually drives a 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: As a baby Jeptha was allowed to pound on highchair. with bottle; mother had nine children chil-dren and was too busy to restrain his early instinct to spear live goldfish gold-fish with fork; early schooling was. under teachers who failed to send; all other pupils home and just concentrate con-centrate on Jeptha. CASE 2. Geoffrey Tuffit, 46, oil truck operator and chronic weaver; through dense traffic. Geoffrey has a batting average of one bad acci-i dent per month, but always seems to get out of it through indifferencej of authorities. He particularly lovesi coasting downhill through school! zones. Report: His inclinations are! all due to a selfish mother who used to wheel Geoffrey around in! a baby carriage unequipped with! brakes and horn. The father never! read Emily Post. CASE 3. Twiggsby Cropper, 19, i college freshman. Twiggsby feelsj unnecessarily curbed if asked to do less than 55 per hour in city centers cen-ters and 70 in suburbs, loves to drive "no-hands" across city play-' grounds. Report: From age of six' months to year and a. half he was' allowed to scream at nurse; from age of 3 to 5 instinct to pour hot porridge on the cat uncurbed. Father Fa-ther bought him a velocipede too early and failed to read him the laws on rules of road each night before putting him to bed. CASE 4. Mrs. Arabella Prigg-stone, Prigg-stone, 29. This woman backs up without signals, makes U-turns on impulse, never bothers to have brakes tightened and frequently forgets to put on lights at night. |