The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1937-11-04
AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT REPEAT-

AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT REPEAT
ers can be cured. That is the gist of an
article in Public Safety describing the re-
suits of corrective system applied last year
by the registrar of motor vehicles in Massa-
chusetts to 500 drivers selected as possess
ing the worst accident records in the state
Every one of the drivers had been in
volved in several accidents. One man had
injured several pedestrians by striking them
with the right side of his car. Tests dis
closed weakness in his right eye, which
was corrected with glasses. Another driver
had had his car rammed three times from
the rear. Tests showed his brake reaction
to be exceptionally fast and he was advised
to watch out for the car in the rear when
making sudden stops. So it went with all
500. At the end of the test instruction per-
iod, the 500 accident repeaters were allow
ed to drive again. Eight months later the
registrar assembled their records. The 500
had driven an aggregate of more than
100000 miles in that period. Not one of
them had been involved in serious acct
dent. Only three had had any accidents at
all.
The facts speak for themselves. En-
forced education can cure the great bulk Of
the drivers who are today responsible for
major and minor accidents In relation to
the vast savings in life and property in
volved, the cost to states and cities would
be infnitesimal Every motor vehicle de-
partment should be authorized by the legis-
lature, as consistent policy, some such cor
receive system as that experimental with in
Massachusetts. Today, in most states, Of
Tending drivers are permitted to go out and
repeat their errors. That is largely respon-
sible for our soaring death and accident
toll-ex.
..
AN INTERESTING DISCUSSION DE-
veloped around the Lions club luncheon
table Monday on whether it is good policy
to give the youngsters Halloween party to
discourage vandalism. Someone raised the
point that it amounted to bribe that bet
ter policing and little home persuasion
would discourage the stunts which usually
don't strike everybody as exactly funny.
Others figure Halloween is traditional
night for pranks that have to be endured !;
still others, that parents keep the tradition
alive with innocent enough stunts with
jack-o-lanterns and masks when the young
sters are very young and fail to realize that
children outgrow such childish things and
go in for more serious deviltry on later Hal
lowe'ens.
At Marshall the boys and girls pledge
| themselves to refrain from pranks in appre-
citation for the annual free show and party
given them by the city and, according to the
Messenger, Halloween passed this year
without so much as soaped window. Per-
haps that's bribing but to us it looks like
ample which every town can well afford to
follow.
TWELVE STATES HAVE BEEN
forced because of widespread illegal prac-
tees to revoke laws allowing refunds of
gasoline taxes to industrial and agricultural
users, according to information given out
this week by George H. Griffith, head of the
state oil inspection division.
Forty-four actions have been instituted
in Minnesota since late April in vigorous
among a minority of gas users and some of
the temptation for collision between deal
ers and customers has been removed by a
change in the refund-request setup, but Mr..
Griffith is still not satisfied that many of the
two and one-half million of dollars in re-
funds which probably will be claimed this
year are legitimate.
He is appealing to the dishonest to play
| fair in the matter of refunds so that it will
not be necessary to eliminate them entirely
in Minnesota.
ANYONE ASSOCIATING WITH COL
| lSSc SIuuSuIS 10 SoSSu Will VIC IiSu
places they have dreams of attaining, fire.
quently with the notion that mere college
diploma will clear the path for a quick trip
to that perch with very little effort. Only
after they are out of college for time and
discover that diploma contains no guar
! antee clause for fast and easy success do
they face the true situation, perhaps after
several likely chances for accomplishment
by the harder route have been passed by.
A University of Minnesota professor
has expressed the matter ably in advising
students not to hitch their wagons to star
but to take more practical view of their
abilities, interests and attitudes and select
as goal some perch that is attainable, real
izing meanwhile that it cannot be reached
without considerable trying.
w. C. PETERSON, MARSHALL EDIT
or, registers the complaint that Twin Cities
newspapers devote too much space to foot
ball scores of Observation-Disclosures col
leges, thousands of miles away and pass up
state high school scores. He is particularly
peeved about the omission of the Marshall
| d. Eo1l DoJxr Eo1Ir