Date of Award
1941
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
Education
Abstract
The need for developing proper habits, attitudes, and skills on the part of motorists is being continually and convincingly impressed on the public mind by the tremendous daily accident toll. Great strides have been made in engineering, both with respect to the construction of motor vehicles and the construction of highways. Traffic law enforcement agencies have become increasingly effective in recent years. Both good engineering and proper law enforcement are necessary, but to secure a very appreciable reduction in traffic accidents authorities are agreed that there must be an effective driver-education program. There have been many analysis of the causes of traffic accidents and all of them clearly indicate that human factors--wrong attitudes, bad habits, lack of skill, and ignorance--account for the majority of accidents. Certainly education must play the major role in any program which aims to eradicate these causes.
Good driving is far from an instinctive accomplishment. It must be learned through close application, constant practice, and perhaps most important, a sincere desire to be a good driver
A systematic plan of driver education should not only prepare students to drive safely, but should imbue them with a sense of their responsibilities as pedestrians and, by giving them an understanding of the purpose behind traffic laws, develop into a willingness to observe traffic rules and regulations.
Driving training schools and traffic courses are being given in many of our secondary schools today as a vital answer to the growing need "teaching by experience those who are about to take their place on the 'open highway'."
Driver education and driver training do not rest entirely upon the need for better mechanical operation of motor cars. It is not enough to each a student merely how to manipulate a vehicle. Other habits, are just as important. Courtesy on the highway is of the same nature as courtesy anywhere, and, cultivated in one sphere of activity, tends to carry over into other spheres. The same can be said for respect for law and order, good sportsmanship, and all the other desirable attitudes which these courses foster.
The main purpose of safety education is to teach people what knowledge is necessary to prevent accidents, to develop the skills and habits necessary to make this knowledge of safety function automatically in emergencies, and equally important to develop attitudes and appreciations of importance in safe driving.
Pages
260
Recommended Citation
Barron, Beverly Crocker. (1941). A semester course in motor safety for California high schools. University of the Pacific, Thesis. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/1004
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