Evening star., 1935-07-28

and irresponsible driver, and this is
being done in the District and in
some Of the States by the revocation
and suspension laws and by the
financial responsibility law which goes
into effect August 2. At present most
Of the States which require oper-
ators' permits give an examination
on the laws and regulations, an eya
test and demonstration of the ap-
pncant's ability to drive safely. To
my mind this is not sufficient to find
out If the applicant will become a
good motor vehicle operator. think
we should go further, but how much
further am not at this time able
to say.
In addition to these tests we are
now establishing by an accurately
calibrated machine the reaction time
of all new drivers, and for the first
time we are requiring the examina-
ton to be written out, so that We
will have a written answer to each
question which may be referred to
in the future, in case the applicant
Is involved in an accident.
Reaction Time Important.
Some of the States are at the pres
ent time also experimenting on the
reaction time of operators, which. is
very important In safe driving. A
car going at 20 miles an hour Will
move about SO feet a second. The
average reaction time of an operator
is about three quarters of a second,
or % feet at 20 miles an hour. BY
reaction time is meant the time re-
quired for the driver to remove his
foot from the accelerator and put 1t
on the brake, and does not include
the time required to stop the car
after the foot is on the brake. One
can readily appreciate the fact that
if the reaction time of the driver is
one and one-quarter seconds, instead
Of three-quarters of a second, that
during that period Of time a motor
vehicle going at 20 miles an hour has
gone about 81 feet. Thirty-seven
feet. or even a fraction of a foot,
might be the difference between an
accident and no accident, or an acci-
dent and fatal accident. Reaction
time is, therefore. extremely impor-
tant. In fact, it may at some time
be possible to place a reaction time
meter in every precinct station, and
when a driver Is arrested after hav-
ing been involved in an accident or
for driving while intoxicated, it may
be possible to make Immediately a
reaction time test which would be
rather definite information for the
courts.
In the District the earliest age that
an operators permit may be secured
is is. Between 16 and Is, however,
the applicant may drive only a car
belonging to himself, his parent or
his guardian. with the consent of his
parent or guardian. The oldest driver
in the District is 80, but no person
over 65 years Of age during the last
two years has been reported as hav-
ing had an accident in the District.
No doubt, when drivers reach the age
of IS or over, they drive very little
at night and they do not drive as
many miles as younger drivers, but
there seems to be no good reason why
the dangerous age in the operation of
motor vehicles should be from l9 to
26. At the age of 20 District opera
tors have four times as many acci-
dents as the average driver. The rem
edy for this may be that of having
all operators whose ages are 19, %
and Is take a thorough re-examina-
ton at the time of the renewal of
their permits, including reaction time
and an eye test.
True and False Tests Given.
Instead of giving a plain written
examination on the rules of the road,
some Of the States are now giving a
written examination, based on true
and false answers to certain questions
and intelligence tests, but so far no
definite information is avaiIohIa to