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Show VfM"--. Drivers Represent High Pe'csr.tone Of Traffic Accidons Chief of Police Glen Gilbert announced an-nounced Thursday that information informat-ion received through the National Police Traffic Safety Institute has revealed that over 7800 oung people between the ages of 15 and 21 were killed in 1952 as a result 'of automobile accidents. In addition addit-ion to these fatal accidents, there I were 360,000 injuries. Drivers in this ;ige gioiip, according to the report, represent only about 20 per I rente of the total of all drivers but last year this group was involved invol-ved in 28 per cent of all fatal accidents. ac-cidents. "Ill is obvious that the reason for this disproportionately high number of young driver traffic fatalities fat-alities is not to be found in the youngster's lack of manual skill", i Chief Gilbert said. "This is the period of his life when his reaction is the fastest his eyes the sharpest sharp-est and his coordination the best." "But when the young driver takes tak-es a high powered into traffic, th? situation is more than a mechanical mech-anical one; at this point it becomes social. It becomes a problem in human lelations. The youngster must balance his own lights and responsibilities with the rights and responsibilities of others. And that involves social attitudes and judgment." judg-ment." This is the problem inherent in youthful driving," Chief Gilbert contiued. "Because of his youth, he has had little chance to develop judgment through actual life situations. situ-ations. Fortunately, actual life experience ex-perience is not the only source of judgment. If this were the case, the only answer to the problem would be to deny our young people license to drive. There is, however, another, approach to development of sound attitudes and judgment education." Chief Gilbert said further that, "Education in the high schools has proved itself one of the most effective effec-tive solutions to the young driver problem. At the high school age, youngsters are most capable of learning proper attitudes and forming for-ming good habits. At this age, too, youth is vitally interested in learning learn-ing to drive. It is no wonder, then, that driver training courses in the high schools consistently produce superior drivers who remain so all through life. In fact, these trained drivers have onl yone-half as many accidents as untrained drivers do. "Through education, youth can edrive the artificial experiences which form the basis for the. judment and attitudes needed to develop safe driving habits", the chief concluded. Chief Gilbert is a member of the National Police Traffic Safety Institute, which organization has interested itself in driver education educat-ion ,and a program of promoting greater teen-age driving safety. |