Evening Star Newspaper, April 19, 1931, Page 83

e wemem—— e How to Test Your Own Driving Ability s More Than a Million People Are Killed or Injured in Automobile Wa. Accidents Every Year, and to Check This Aw ful Toll Safety s Authorities Have Compiled This Examination, Which Every One Behind a Wheel Can Give Himself or His Friends to Help Make the Highzways Safe. BY ISRAEIL KLEIN. WENTY-SEVEN MILLION passenger , trucks and busses in the United ' States, traveling a total of 162,000,- 000,000 miles last year—— Only 660,000 miles of more or less improved highways, ranging all the way from graded earth to concrete, and most of this mileage in the form of city streets—— . .Millions of ears, billions of miles, wider and faster highways—traffic, traffic and yet more trafic—— ‘Then the accidents. In 835,250 of them in this country in 1930, 82,500 persons were killed and 962,325 were injured. Automobile mfileage last year decreased 10 per cent, according to authoritative figures. Yet the number of automobile accidents went up 12 per cent, deaths more than 4 per cent and in- juries, 13 per cent! THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, APRIL 19, What's the answer? License every driver in the country, then take his license and his right o0 drive away from him for a while if it is found that he has been the cause of any accident in traffic. Auto- motive, safety, business, social and economic associaticns of the country demand it. But while three-fourths of the States are still- without drivers’ license laws, or have a form of law that is considered below standard, it may not be amiss for the serious and well meaning automobile owner in any of these States to take stock of himself and his ear for the combined safety of himself, his passengers and others in the street. Such self-examination may help reduce the rising accident rate and avoid the difficulties compulsory license laws are designed to prevent. ’I‘HI: process of examination is simple, and few persons need more than a few hours’ study of State and municipal traffic laws, rules 1931. , and a reasonable amount of practice to pass the examination. ver to be eligible for a license must be distinguish between the colors of red, amber at a reasonable distance. Still, color blindness is not an absolute bar to operating an automobile. Persons so afflicted may confine their driving to streets without traffic lights, unless the colors are placed uni- formly on all light units. Applicants with defective vision must pro- vide themselves with corrective glasses. They must be able to read within a few feet the regular traffic signs observed on the highways. The applicant must be otherwise physically fit to drive, and his automobile, especially the lights and the brakes, must be in perfect order. After the physical examination and examina- tion of the automobile comes the operation #est, then the mental test. J. 8. Baker of the National Safety Council recently made the rounds of the Eastern States that required licensing of drivers and subjected himself to examination in order to get an idea of what these tésts are like. His experience in 10 of the States has led him to outline a standard driving test and a sample series of questions which would repre- sent in a general way the average type of ex- aminations prevailing in these States. The driving test includes the requirement of nine significant operations, all under the eye of an examiner sitting alongside the applicant. The mental examination that follows consists of One way to learn the traffic rules without crumpling any fenders or ruining any dispositions. A group of motorists in Los Angeles using toy automobiles on make-believe streets under the guidance o of a driver in city traffic f an expert to get straight on what is expected DISTANCE ABOUT 1% MiLES TIME ABOUT 10 MINUTES [SAFELY O STARTING PONT This sketch-diagram shows roughly what is required of @ man who applies for a driver’s license. Could you pass?. actual questions taken from examinations in about seven of the licensing States, all together being an average and typical group of questions for such a test. OW be your own examiner, or have some one give you these tests, and see how far you can go with them. You might, at the same time, try the tests on a friend and check up on his driving ability and his knowledge of the traffic laws. In the driving test the following instruc- tions are to be followed: 2 1. Operate the motor vehicle over a two- mile course that will take you through both business and residence districts. 2. Apply both foot and emergency brakes suddenly. 3. Direct your car across two or three busy intersections. 4. Make at least two complete stops in traffic, one in a traffic Jane and another at the curb. : 5. Make at least two right and two left turns. ; 6. Stop and start going up a 10 per cent grade—that is, 10 feet up in each 100 feet forward. 7. Turn around between curbs on & 20 to 28 foot street, preferably with a slope of 5 per cent, a pronounced crown or deep gutters. 8. Run in reverse 50 feet. 9. Park parallel to curb between two cars or other obstacles 20 feet apart, or length of your own car plus 5 feet. Here’s how to check these operations. Con- sider yourself or your subject as having falled in each of the nine tests if— 1. You show evidence of inexperience, poor gear shifting, repeated stallings, poor steering control, too much speed at intersections, poor judgment in traffic, excessive use of second gear, disregard for pedestrians and unusual nervousness. 2. Either hand or emergency brake fails to stop or hold the car properly. 3. You fail to comply fully with require- ments of traffic signs or signals you pass. 4. You neglect to signal with each maneuver. 5. You cut corners, swing wide, or fail to signal when necessary. 6. You roll back more than one foot in starting. N 7. You climb either curb or obstruct traffic to the extent of causing other vehicles using the road to stop. 8. You weave back and forth excessively or fail to look behind sufficiently. 9. You touch either wvehicle or climb the ourb, HAVING passed this test, try the sample quiz. The questions may require answers slightly varying in detail according to the traffic laws prevailing in your State or Com-~ munity. But the answers given after the list of 15 questions are those based on the unie form vehicle code of the National Conference on Street and Highway Safety and come fairly close to being correct everywhere. The answers follow the questions, mnue merically, but try to answer the questions Continued on Seventeenth Page 4