Evening star., 1925-08-16
NORM" IN DRIVING
SOUGHT BY TESTS
Mentally Unstable Eliminated
by Psychologists
System.

Elimination of the mentally SUD
normal the emotionally unstable anu
the morally irresponsible as drivers
of motor vehicles is advocated by A
J, Snow, director of psychological re-
search for the Yellow Cab Company,
as a necessary step toward a reduc-
ton in highway accidents
A subnormal individual may be d
skillful driver under ordinary condl-
tions, according to Mr.. Snow, but ne
is not able to use good judgment IN
an emergency. If he is emotionally
unstable. he may become hysterlcal
and unable to act at all, or II ne Is
morally irresponsible and reckless ne
will take chances and misJudge ais
tance or speed. he said.
Mr.. Snow conducted a series OF tests
with applicants to drive taxicabs IN
Chicago. He describes the results OF
these investigations as follows:
After a study of the accident rec
ords of the Yellow Cab Company OF
Chicago, it was found that only is
per cent of all the drivers were re-
sponsible for 46 per cent of all the &C
cidents, and an analysis of this group
showed that the men were of low in
telligence, were emotionally unstable
or were men of careless habits. SO
a series of tests was devised that
would discover in d very short time
whether or not an applicant for q Joo
as a taxicab driver had the mental
ability to operate a cab safely in the
streets of the city.
5000 Pass Tests.
More than 10000 applicants have
now been tested, and half of the 5000
drivers employed by the company
have passed the tests satisfactorily.
More than one-fifth of all applicants
have been rejected as undesirable. As
a result there has been a pronounced
decrease in the accident rate. To
prove the value of the tests record
was kept on a group of "a men classl-
fed as unsatisfactory and another OF
258 pronounced desirable. Twenty-six
in the first group started to work,
and in the first 10 weeks II of them,
or 64 per cent, had 26 accidents due
to carelessness or gross negligence,
and 10. or 38 per cent. had 2 or more
such accidents. In the satisfactory
group 2OS started work, and in the
same 10 weeks 81, or 33 per cent had
accidents due to carelessnesS or negli-
gence, and 80. or Il per cent, had ,
or more. The average number of &C
cidents per man was only one-fifth as
many as in the unsatisfactory group.
by taxicab companies in Cleveland
Louisville, Pittsburgh, Toledo. South
Bend and Omaha. AS a result of the
use of these tests, not only has the
accident rate of the cab company in
Chicago been reduced tremendously
and progressively, but the labor turn
over has been decreased because fewer
men have been discharged for aCCi
dents, the undesirable applicants are
turned away before they have been
trained in the company's school. and
greater public good will has been
created
Mr.. Snow said that the psychology
cal test method of wedding out un-
safe drivers must eventually be
adopted throughout the world as a
means of preventing accidents and
that in the year since the Massachu-
setts law permitted the license bureau
to refuse operators licenses to per-
sons who were found to be mentally
defective there has been a great re-
duction of accidents in that State.