Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-25
PROPOSED TESTS
TO AID BEGINNER
Plans for Strict ExamIna.
tions Would Make Novice
Model Driver.


terializs within the next year. Predtc-
lions of more rigid driver tests forecast
a situation where those who pilot cars
for the first time may know more about
the process than many thousands who
have been getting away with it for
years.
The odds appear to be greatly in favor
of a new era in motoring in which the
last shall be first
While twenty-eight States of the
Union make no effort to license drivers
and thus dc not provide any test OF the
public's capacity for driving, many OF
the remaining States are making plans
to devise more serviceable tests. The
aim is to develop a higher grade OF
driver rather than to exclude those who
may, through inexperienCe, seem unit
1t is generally recognized that hlgh
percentage Of unfit drivers already con-
fuse the roads and that one way OF
meeting this situation is to seek to
raise the general level of competency
through greater care IL making addl-
tons to the ranks.
No Extreme Methods.
It is not expected that any States
will engage in such extreme methods as
shocking applicants with disturbing
electrical rays, but in at least one in
stance efforts will be made to deter
mine, through psychological tests, how
the applicants view their forthcoming
responsibilities awheel Tests will be
more mental than physical, and will re-
quire considerable amount of study.
Study of the applicant will serve two
purposes, according to the most adj
vanced thought on the subject. 1t will
enable the motor vehicle authorities to
determine the fitness 0of the prospective
driver and in addition, will automati-
cally school the applicant in some OF
the deeper features of driving. With
all cars, big or small, now comparatively
easy to operate experience is demon
strating that accidents occur, not be-
cause drivers do not know how to shift
gears or otherwise handle the car
skillfvlly, but because they have alb
normal Judgment and perverse ideas
regarding responsibility.
In one tentative test now worked out
by one motor vehicle department appli-
Giants would be asked If they carry
life insurance. The question at f1rst
seems irrelevant. It's answer. however,
presents a fairly good picture concern
ing the applicants consideration OF
others.
Two Schools of Thought
Two general schools OF thought are
currently at work on the problem of
assuring motordom higher level of new
additions to the ranks of operators. One
is concerned with picking out the unfit
driver through ingenious tests Of such
factors as reaction time, mental lag,
visual defects and emotional stability.
The other is primarily interested in his
or her qualifications for highway Cssti-
zenship While a considerable amount
of research work is being done in the
former line, the prospects are that at
the next session CT Legislatures in
States where changes are contem-
plated the new tests will be largely given
over to getting line on the applicants
character.
A test used as a prerequisite to OBJ
tanning driving permit in Vienna re-
quires the applicant to direct marker
through the streets depicted on slowly
revolving chart. In making his imagi-
nary way through the city he must OBJ
serve all traffic regulations and make
turns according to the rules. Such q
test, while appearing to bring out the
drivers capacity for the Job Of handling
a car. has been played in the category
of those examinations which merely
demonstrate skill and have been widely
condemned. 1t is pointed out that
many a driver who shifts gears very
competently may be lacking in ordinary
courtesy and judgment
That science may succeed in discard
ing unfit drivers is the hope of most
safety advocates, but in approaching the
problem there Is a constant temptation
to overlook the science Of psychology.
A research campaign at present being
conducted by DR.. Knight Dunlap OF
Johns Hopkins University and DR.. A. p.
Weiss of Ohio State University gives
promise Of bringing psychology into
proper perspective with its related
sciences Of biology, chemistry, physics
and endocrinology. One of the tests
devised by this group checks the appli-
cant's ability to coordinate hand and
eye movements, thus demonstrating his
ability to do several things at the same
time.
Ingenious Methods.
The Bureau Of Standards at Washing
ton, D. c., has devised ingenious meth
DDS for testing the applicants ability
and step on the brake pedal at sound
of a pistol shot. Various deductions
have been drawn from the results and
certain types of persons who failed to
respond quickly enough were said to be
suffering from what is known as
mental lag" Because such tests in
volve mental action they are apt
to be confused with the deeper
phases of psychology which many of the
most practical minded students of traf-
nc conditions believe are Of far greater
significance.
Robbins B. Stoeckel. motor vehicle
commissioner of Connecticut, is one to
state that as between the slow thinker
aud the fast thinker the former Is the
least dangerous "A slow thinking man
does not make a determination without
first considering practically all the pos
sibilities of any situation" he explains,
af~.tl.{ nAs ~
sufficiently takes in the problem which
confronts him.
Advocates of reaction time tests would
explain that when a driver is made to
understand that at sound of the pistol
shot he must stop as quickly as pos
sible no elaboration is necessary and
that If there is too much hardness III
reacting to the signal the applicant
Is deficient in his reflex mechanism.
In considering such a person for a
drivers permit, however, the State in
all fairness to the applicant Is faced
with the likelihood that this type OF
person might not get into such tight
Jams, compenSating for his hardness
with more thoughtful handling of the
car.
Slow Thinking Annoying.
Commissioner Stoeckel recognizes that
the slow-thinker is annoying TO others
and that with the trend Of the times
toward greater road speeds any type Of
driving that Is out OF step with the
average is breeder of accidents. That
the slow thinker can be trained to react
more speedily without sacrificing his
good qualities, however, Is the creed OF
oehavioristic psychology and one of tn,
brightest hopes on the automotiye hori-
Eon.
Many interesting tests have been de-
vised to bring to light a drivers weak
ness for excitability and his other
vanced being a method of distractine
him through ultraviolet light rays
which lab him in the neck Such tests
represent extremes in the effort to pre-