Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-06

Tendency TO look upon the new and
rigid tests for automobile drivers which
have been adopted by Massachusetts, as
offering field for research is shown
in other States. These examinations,
which are required in connection with
the issuing of licenses, are elaborate and
go into the practical problems of safe
driving.
Commenting upon a days experience
with the examinations, the Worcester
Evening Gazette says: "A majority of
the failures were due to ignorance of
the traffic law. which little study will
correct. Yet the sharp rise in the pro-
! portion of failures Is not without its
significance. The new tests apparently
are not catching many persons whose
defective eyesight or practical ignorance
Of driving units them for the privi-
lege of using the highways. Some time
we may devise sitter examination,
for our accident records continually re-
veal the activity of incompetent drivers.
Yet the fact that a high proportion Of
candidates could not answer a list OF
questions on the traffic laws suggests
the probability that licensed operators
who are equally ignorant are now help
ing to congest the traffic on our high
ways"
Pointing out that the illegal question"
hurdle for Would-be drivers to Jump IS
a new feature which will be watched,
the Brooklyn Daily Eagle remarks, "a
quizZical person might say that if driv-
ing. over State lines could be stopped
under the United States Constitution
Massachusetts, would, with her new
legislation, come pretty close to ending
congestion on her streets and roads
from WilliamStown clear to Fall River
It is reported that 10 per cent of the
applicants for drivers licenses failed to
qualify. Registrar Parker of the Motor
Supervision Bureau had prepared 81
questions on legal points, from which
six were selected at random by the ex-
aninerS. and to prevent being funked
the applicant had to answer three of
these correctly. AS only q few of those
examined were lawyers, the outcome
might have been foreseen."
THE new Massachusetts, system"
states the Birmingham News, "takes
into consideration the equipment and
bility of the driver, but 1t was not this,
nor the eye tests, nor the character ex-
animation that stumped the tyros. Their
stumbling block was the road test. given
In crowded traffic, and the oral quiz on
the States motor laws"
\ Il y
Assurance Of the qualifications of
cars and drivers" according to the
Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, sis nee
essary to hold accident in check, and
in obtaining this the State Is going to
the root of the problem. Also there is
reasonableness in requiring every driver
to be thoroughly familiar with the rules
OF the road. Pennsylvania should take
note of the Massachusetts, results in car
inspection. Here we license the driver
only after personal tests but we license
his machine sight unseen. A faulty
equipped car is a menace in the hands
OF the best OF operators. Our system is
wrong"
The new system in the Bay State is
viewed by the Canton Daily News as
likely to offer statistics which will be of
value to the rest of the country, and
that paper records facts that have ap-
peared in the matter: Massachusetts,
now has the strictest code OF any State
in the country. The examination in
cludes an oral legal test, reading test,
eye test, brief character quiz, vehicular
equipment and road tests. The legal
test proves the stumbling block for the
majority"
The trafic problem" advises the
Hartford Evening Times, sis quite
formidable enough to justify every eff
fort In the search for corrective means
regarding those drivers or new appli-
cants for licenses who ask for the right
to operate motor vehicle on the public
highway. But underneath the physical
and mental aspects of this situation lies
the even more important and very
elusive factor of the human will. In
difference and carelessness, indicating
lack of conscientious purpose on the
part Of operators to drive safely, account
for more accidents in the final analysis
thantany other set Of causes"
More rigid teStsuaz0 worth wfile,s as