Education and the Motor Age

Since its beginning around 1920, traffic safety education has experienced phenomenal growth, not only in the number of schools involved but also in the scope of the program. In the lower grades, pedestrian safety and bicycle safety, as well as being valuable in themselves, help to form the attitudes of mind which will later produce safe drivers. In secondary schools, driver education with both classroom and practice driving instruction provides an invaluable program for the preparation of drivers. There are many aspects of a compre hensive safety program, including the use of student leadership through school patrols; the supervision of vehicle and instruc tion of driver and passengers in school transportation; the preparation of teachers for this relatively new field of instruc tion; and continued research. Safety education also entails re sponsibility for finance, law, and community relationships. Al though it is always difficult to measure the intangible effects of education, the visible trend of a lower accident rate among children of school age since the development of safety education testifies to its value. New activities now being introduced promise even greater benefits. Traffic safety education evolved to meet a real social need. Because of the urgency of this need and because the education profession recognized some measure of responsibility for the safety of school children, safety educa tion has developed on a scale equalled by few other areas of the school program.