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JP61 Xa/icnal Safety Congress young drivers. By and large the people in most states, when givo a reasonable op portunity, have indicated that they realize that the alternative to better driver educa tion is chaos and therefore unacceptable, and have generally voted to support it along with the other factors necessary to reduce the acddextt tolL Slowly* the realization of the inadequacy of the old method of learn ing to drive has penetrated to the man on the street. He has indicated strongly his desire that the young drivers learn through formal instruction. This has set the stage in thousands of communities across the nation for the advocates of safer driving to advance their cause. A great deal of time and space could be devoted to a consideration of the basic changes which have and are occurring in the United States which will be responsible for the increasing stature of driver educa tion through the 'Ws. But let roe try to stan it up by calling attention to what seem to have been the major ones responsible. First, the growing complexity of the driv ing task; second, the urbanization of our communities; the continued development of the automobile as the most practical means of personal transportation; the presence of a tax base which permits development of superhighways across the nation in both urban and rural situations; economic growth to the extern that most adults have access to and can afford to drive an auto mobile; development of licensing and other regulatory means to give minimurn control of vehicle users; growth of reasonable en forcement organisations whose control has not been unduly restrictive. These other basic philosophies and developments permit vast growth in motor vehicle population which is unequaled anywhere else on earth. It is my thought that driver education has flourished along with the vehicle and the roadway because It is inherently a sound proposition. Looking from 1970 baric down the fifties it ts easy to discern that the general trend has been one of forward surging. But living through the actual ex perience it sometimes has seemed that the only progress was backward. One of the lessons we might learn from this look ahead is that it is essential when living thrensgfa a period not to grow complacent or to become discouraged when progress seems unnecessarily slow. As long as the 118 general trend can be kept headed in the right direction the game can be woo. Now most reasonable individuals will recognize that in the movement to reduce the number and high cost of automobile accidents there are elements other than driver education responsible for a portion of the progress made. I see a more satis factory and Productive mutual recognition between driver educators and the people engaged in the other dements--enforcement agencies, licensing and regulatory bodies, and the like. There is a great need to work more effectively together in achieving recog nition of the mutual problems and for aid in solving them. It stands to reason that since all are engaged in a common battle to reduce auto accidents, all should gri more ^ in the end by cooperating in the plaamxng and execution of programs. It is difficult for the various functions to measure effectively their accomplishroeztts; and the public is entirely unable to make such a judgment correctly. It therefore follows that little has been gained in the long run by having each individual group claim the hulk of the credit for their particular organization each time there was some improvement in the safety statistics. Indeed, I view it that future progress de mands a more intelligent joining of forces with these other groups. It is always sur prising what can be accomplished as a result of this kind of cooperation. While my foregoing discussion has been largely in general terms, the remainder of my time will be devoted to trying to focus the old crystal ball more sharply on some of the more interesting driver education items which would appear to be significant or which are controversial enough to war rant inclusion. And the first thing 1 would like to men tion is this matter of integrating driver education materials into other school courses. The driving coarse of the future shapes up as one that sticks to the things that are peculiar to teaching a person to drive, and relegates to other curricula the ideas and subject matters that are properly theirs. We cannot make the progress that we must make and continue to pad oor courses in driving with material-that should go in social science, civics, math, physics, etc. This may mean ignoring .the first 50 pages of some of the more popular text- School and College Sessions buries available today, or the middle 100 for tli matter. The important thing is to unload extraneous items from driver train ing course material and get it properly integrated into the proper course in your particular school. If this means becoming more influential with the school curriculum planner, then much the better, if it means taking all the free time for a week or two to sell teachers in other courses on the materia! you think they should include in their course, well, this might not be a bad idea, j tone skillfully, as an expert teacher would do it, it should help build respect and co operation that yew may not have had pre viously. It will help you save some time nut of the 30 precious hours to treat properly some vital aspects of driving which you perhaps had been shorting before; or, h will help you lop off several hours of classroom time that is required in order to meet your next schedule- There is no reason that you couldn't integrate some of ihe course material into (lie junior high or even the grade school which supplies stu dent* to your high school. Thif would privide an opportunity to broaden your own horizons at the same time it improves the potential quality of the student you eventu ally turn out. Why should you ignore a plan which will increase the efficiency of vour teaching, enable you to handle more total number of deaths and injuries result ing from accidents each year. Since belts and other safety devices help reduce these totals, then it stands to reason that driver education is going to get part of the credit. A minimum of teacher effort in this area can go a long way in producing valuable results. I don't believe the smart teacher is going to be content to stand bv while other* in the community get credit for advocating such lifesaving equipment; not if he intends to become known and paid as the local expen in iratttc safety, he won't. By 1970 there will 1< more schools giving driver courses during after-school hours than at present. Classes held after the regular school day is over or on Saturday ur in the summer make sense to most nonschool people who do not look on it as lowering the standards but as a practical matter of utilization of time and facilities. Many other courses **r activities of im portance are given at these hours with no thought of them being particularly second ary in nature, and m time the driving teacher will be less sensitive to this situa tion than he is at present. It is probably more significant iltat the driving course will survive its detractors who have labeled *t a frill, non-academte and every other name they felt might result in it l*eing banished from the curriculum. students more competently, and generally In the coming decade the school ad aid in building greater understanding and ministrator will ctitmantly be hard-pressed respect for your operation with your con to make the xdvxil operation more efficient temporaries ? at a constantly lower cost. This should not One productive area for participation by driving teachers can easily be seen without discourage the teacher, who sometimes feels that he Is the whipping boy in this stttta- the use of a crystal ball, without, in fact, the use of any aid to seeing of any land, l refer to the area of automotive safety equipment. In the past far too many tionj for such t* not really the case. The sound course taught by the perceptive teacher will emerge all the stronger from having s*xight and found ways to do more teachers have failed to take advantage of for less. the opportunity they have of being leaders in their community--as welt as in their Among the badly needed activities which will advance considerably during the next classroom -- in aiivootling the use by ten years is technical research in the field of vehicle operators of proven safety features driver education. The shoddy, poorly con like seat belts, padded dash and risers, and the other devices which can do so much to ducted surveys and studies of the past years will be replaced by a series of broad studies prevent serious injury to occupants of a and investigations far more scientific and car ms'olved in an accident. meaningful tn terms of results. These will In my opinion, this is a short sighteiJ he of considerable value in explaining the procedure for this reason: one of the few ways the public has of judging the effective effectiveness of driver education as well as in developing methods and techniques for ness of the current traffic program is by the teaching courses. 1 see the need for the U9