Show practice fields f for or beginning 19 drivers answer to where can I 1 cities B believe street or highway Is poor with schools for novices learn to drive chicago pioneers by WILLIAM C UTLEY T TEY EY yuh crazy lug why boncha learn leam to drive a car j this irritable qu query ery often sp springing ring i ring from inspire eions other than mans fellowship with mant 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 to drive in a street or highway safety minded individuals and or are beginning to realize that this is about as sensible as teaching a person to swim by push ing him off the dock even less sensible perhaps for a man pushed off the dock would seldom be endangering dan gering the lives of anyone but himself but a novice driver let loose in traffic has the lives of hundreds in his 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 and schools for beginning drivers when beginners have finished the courses and passed all the tests they should actually be better drivers than millions who have piloted an automobile for years and they will have had a lot of 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 situ situations actions the lake front field one of the finest examples of the movement in the nation will be finished next summer it is being built because for a period of months about persons a week have been thoughtful enough of the safety of others to ask policemen where can I 1 learn to drive the school being built in response to their queries is made possible through the cooperation co operation of the works progress administration husbands and wives will be particularly ticul arly interested if the driving school idea becomes a national one as indications are it may wives will no longer have to h hear ear tha a a ts right strip the gears when their novice shifting is not timed just right and the husbands will no longer squirm amid the tooting of impatient horns from behind when their spouses kill the engine virtually every situation that might be met in actual driving can be rehearsed on the lake front course when it is finished every hazard known to the street or highway can be reproduced there will be three miles of road eions mechanical devices will simulate fog and rain beginning drivers are perhaps frightened by nothing so much as skidding on wet or icy pavese pavements be given an opportunity to try a little skidding under safe conditions in the chicago school A skid bowl will produce all types of pavements for this purpose most drivers ordinarily are told what they should do when the car starts skidding but skidding happens so quickly and unexpectedly that they 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 v 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 simulate 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 imir it he will be able to tell exactly how he would react under the real situation he can then concentrate cen upon correcting his mistakes if there have been any according to otto K jelinek the park district engineer who is in charge of the project this will be one of the chief advantages of driving course instructions the beginner will have to act under typical conditions that he will run into when hes out on his own sixteen to twenty hours perhaps the most important aspects of these schools will be the attention which they will undoubtedly attract to the need for expert driving instruction which exists even among experienced drivers it is designed to provide so much sport in learning that many will sign up just for the fun of 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 the school these will also house a testing laboratory a library of traffic and safety engineering and a public auditorium where accident prevention p 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 i if necessary but there werd vere only about 10 per cent who might have been classified as good drivers high school blazes trail As a result the high school this fall will begin to include in its instruction st courses lessons in automobile driving those who are inclined to believe that youths are universally ver sally reckless behind the wheel one of the safety suggestions Is a grating surface for bridges which permits snow to fall through to the river below which they are not safety statistics reveal hope that driving lessons will become a nationally standard course in the schools driving the school feels cant be taught from a text book so a driving course similar to the one described above is being built it will have a moving picture auditorium dummy automobiles and real automobiles there will be 1000 feet of real macadam roadway 20 feet wide along this drive the pupil will meet many of the same things z 5 4 7 V W P V 0 site of practice driving school on chicago lake front here the driver would encounter type of street intersection every curve highway sign and stop and go device that he would meet in actual driving condi conditions conditto tio the school will be designed to make ns 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 those on their first or second lessons parking on a dime will be taught in a special area with all kinds of parking conditions reproduced weather conditions simulated enrollees in the course will be shown how to make a grade railroad crossing and there will be a real crossing for them to pass synchronized chroni zed stop and go traffic lights will greet them at intersections there will be a service station where they may learn to order what s needed to keep them the bus going and see that they get what they ask for not even the weather will escape being a lesson in the course there will be a dark tunnel for the reproduction of night driving condi length of the course has been determined ter mined with the assistance 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 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 for those not owning provided provided the their i r own cars automobiles will be after completing the course the s student is graduated and pre presented sent 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 he would in the street or highway signal lights S curves winding roads intersections alleys for backing practice banked curves and all the rest courses in safe driving says the national safety councils ma magazine 9 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 a practice field especially y constructed and maintained for the purpose educational experts agree that the principle behind the method is one of the soundest in deac teaching hing practice 0 western newspaper NOB Nes paper union |