Evening star., 1935-05-05

Ine NaC1On SnOulQ make k1lllnS
far as it is humanity possible. 7
be cut down.
Unless motorists as q whole act
10 do this as a duty Of good citizen
ship, stricter regulations must be
planned. The driving of an automo-
bile is not right, it is a privilege.
This privilege will be taken away II
it is continued to be abused.
Drivers resent the present restric-
tions, but unless they change their
customs they will face more severe
ones. It might as well be realized that
things cannot go on in the present
way. It is up to the motorists now to
drive sanely or perhaps not at all.
The passage of the safety-re-
sponsibihty bill is to be hailed. Ne
cessity required its enactment. The
Star feels a sense of pride in its pas
sage. Years ago it sent representa-
tive into the State of Massachusetts,,
where a similar law was first being
tried out. The law, different from the
one passed by Congress for the Dis
trict of Columbia, had its defects, but
the general plan was good.
Later, in 1927, Theodore P. Noyes,
associate editor of The Star, saw the
need of such law. With a commit
tee of II of the American Automobile
Association he studied every phase of
automobile liability insurance. He
was a member of the Drafting Com
mittee which framed the model safety
responsibility bill and from then on
until the time of his death he was
member of the A. A. A. National
Safety Responsibility Committee,
which made many revisions and i'm
provements in the model legislation.
It was largely through the efforts
OF Mr.. Noyes that the first safety
responsibility bill for the District Of
Columbia was introduced in Congress.
He was also one of the first witnesses
to appear before q congressional COM
mittee on behalf Of the legislation.
In effect this Summer, the law
should have great bearing on les
sening the traffic accidents. It is a
splendid measure. The innocent will
not be penalized and only the guilty
will be punished.
A good lesson in driving was re-
Gently delivered before group Of
drivers of large oil company's fleet
here by Charles H. Ruth, superin-
tendent of The Star.
It is of sufficient interest to quote
1t, in part. as follows:
Psychologists teach us that there
are four levels in mental reactions.
The first level is the purely reflex re-
action; the second, is the instructive
level reaction; the third is the in
telligent level and the fourth is the
ethical level. In driving, few Of us
rise above the second or instructive
level, whereas to be accident free
drivers, we must always react mentally
on the two highest planes-the intelli-
gent and the ethical levels.
LET me explain these four levels Of
mental reactions and you will then see
their direct connection with good
driving. The lowest level Of mental
reaction is the purely reflex. If I
look into your eye with a fashlight
the pupil of your eye will contract. A
baby's eye will do likewise. Such re-
actions therefore are inherent. You
are, If normal, born with these and
can exercise little, if any, control over
your reflex reactions. Since such re-
actions result without penetrating into
your mental consciousness, you can
readily see that it Is impossible for
any one to drive safely on this low
mental level, although drunken per-
sons and those sound asleep at the
wheel attempt it.
"The next level of mental reaction
As the instructive level. It is on this
level that the accident-prone driver
operates. Certain situations arouse an
emotion, different emotions in dif-
ferent people, and one reacts 'instinc-
lively to the emotion aroused rather
than to the situation faced. might
illustrate this situation by firing gun
in the presence of two dogs, one a
hunting dog and the other house
dog. The explosion of the gun arouses
an emotion of fear in the house dog: |
he puts his tail between his legs and
runs away. The other dog, hearing |
the report Of the gun, has the instinct
of pleasure, the hunt, and he stands
still and looks for the bird or rabbit |
he thinks was shot. Both dogs faced |
the same situation, the firing of
gun, but it aroused different emotions,
fear in one, pleasure or sport in the
other, and they reacted according to
the emotion aroused and not to the |
situation faced. This illustrates in
stinctive reaction-the actions based
on emotion rather than on the next
higher plane of intelligence. The |
things we do instructive we do without |
considered judgment, reacting purely |
as Ue are in the habit of acting