Evening star., 1925-08-09
AA.A. MAY. FOSTER
DRIVING CONTESTS.
Effort TO Improve Work of
Owners Planned to Cut
Accident Toll.

A campaign to encourage safer
motoring through the promotion of
better driving by means of contests,
competitions and tests may be among
the near-future activities of the Amer.
lean Automobile Association.
According to officials of the national
motoring orga nization, lack of proper
understanding of cars and their op-
Grafton is a fundamental reason for
the inability of the Nation to make
greater progress with it's safety prob
lem.
The fight against accidents" says
President Thomas =. Henry. lis moth
ing more nor less than a fight against
ignorance. American automobiles to-
day would be as far behind the times
as are many American drivers had the
manufacturers not been willing to
combat ignorance through putting
their cars on the race track"
Mr.. Henry states that several Amer
lean cities now hold annual driving
exhibitions and that these have met
with instant approval for the reason
that they have been invariably fol-
lowed by improvements in local safety
conditions.
Driver Is Overlooked.
In perfecting the automobile we
have tended to overlook the driver"
declares the A. A. A. executive. In
the laboratory of the race track the
present-day automobile with it's many
features of performance and stamina
have been rapidly evolved. There is
no reason why we should not expect
similar results with the automobile
driver.
The great trouble has been that the
public streets and highways have been
mistaken for the laboratory. We have
learned a lot about driving through
sad experience, but too often the
drivers who learned their lessons did
not remain with us to put them into
practice.
Safer motoring will be possible
through encoura cement of better driv-
ing, which in turn will be helped by
contests, competitions and tests. These
might we'll be conducted under the
auspices of our contest board.
NO feat of the speedway. no con-
test. no economy run, is considered
authoritative in America unless it was
checked by the A. A. A. contest board.
To have such approval has become
the aim of race drivers, manufacturers,
designers and engine builders. The
spirit of progress and of rivalry, under
strict rules of the game, has been en-
Couraged to a point where modern au-
tomObiles are leaping ahead to per
fection at a rate that is almost beyond
belief. Such a spirit among the peo-
pie who drive Americas 1900, 900 cars
is needed TO win this fight against
carelessness and ignorance in driving
Exhibits Would Bring Skill.
Exhibition of driving skill would
encourage practice on the part of the
many contestants, and practice is the
one thing that all drivers do not have.
They often BELIEVE they are practicing
in the course of their daily driving
but it is really bluhdering.
The horse shows which are still
popular in many cities are, in reality
rider shows. Somehow in the rush to
sell automobiles and popularize motor
ing the Nation has overlooked the i'm
portance Of keeping the automobile
driver up to the minute in point of
ability and understanding of the arti-
Gle he controls.
1T would not be surprising if the
automobile shows of the near future
will be held on specially prepared fair
grounds where machines will be DEM
strated in action under all varieties
of road and traffic conditions. And
the drivers of these cars will be on
exhibition as well as the cars them
selves.
City Holds Contest.
I'VE intend looking carefully into
the possibilities. One city recently
held an exhibition in which local mo-
torists displayed their ability to back,
steer, start, shift gears, stop and turn.
They were also judged for their poise
when at the wheel, their ability to
watch the road when making gear
changes or otherwise changing the
controls and their skill in steering
cleverly in and out of bad situations
This is just the idea in the rough.
Under the direction of the A. A. A.
contest board drivers would compete
with one another for honors in driving
sl<illfully through traffic especially Gre
ated for the show, in handling the
car over slippery pavements and in all
the other matters which touch upon
safety. Suitable prizes would furnish
the necessary incentive for the first
contests, but it is believed that the re-
suits would be so definite and the i'm
provement in safety conditions so evi-
dent, that future contests would
hardly need stimulation in the way of
prizes.
"Conquering ignorance through con-
tests has been the outstanding reason
for motor car improvements in the
past 20 years. Surely in the next 90
the process of conquering ignorance
of driving should produce equally i'm
II.