Citation

Smithson FD. Proc. Am. Assoc. Automot. Med. Annu. Conf. 1971; 15: 351-360.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1971, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

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Abstract

Driver education in America undoubtedly began with the inception of the automobile; however, a formal program was not initiated until 1938 when Amos Neyhart developed the first comprehensive curriculum. Driver Education has long since become an institution in the American school system until, at present, the great majority of new drivers receive some formal training program prior to licensing.

In recent years, driver education has been questioned by critics who claim that there is not data to support the value of driver education as an effective accident reduction tool. It is difficult to believe that increasing driver knowledge and skill is not a beneficial objective, whereas it is equally difficult to determine that driver education as it exists today has made a major impact on the highway safety problem.

This paper describes an Advanced Driver Education Program developed at General Motors Proving Ground. The program is designed around the concept of training drivers to handle specific driving emergencies that accident causation data indicate are driver problems.

The individual training exercises are discussed and data are presented for an evaluation program conducted to assess the value of the training methods.