Driving in the Civilized 1950s

Editor’s Note: Published by the American Automobile Association, Sportsmanlike Drivingwas a popular driver’s education textbook used in high schools across the county during the 1950s. It’s a gem of a book, and what’s so interesting about it, as compared to manuals of today, is the way it frames driving behavior not simply in terms of what is legal and advisable, but in the light of character traits. “The Motor Age Citizen,” the manual argues, “must accept the moral responsibility of properly using the power machines he has devised.”

The excerpts below outline the “mental make-up” of various types of poor drivers, who should ideally be taken “right off the road until their weaknesses are corrected.” The traits of a “top-notch” driver are also illuminated. And the principles in both cases extend wonderfully beyond the road!

Driving skillfully and safely in modern traffic is no “cinch.”

The mechanical operations are not difficult for most people to learn. They have become simpler than ever with automatic transmission cars. But there are at least five importance factors, other than mechanical skills, that make expert driving of an automobile a challenging job:

1. The power and limitations of the car.
2. The physical features of roads and streets.
3. The behavior of other highway users.
4. Changing light and weather conditions.
5. The make-up of the driver himself.

The driver is the most important factor in keeping driving from being a “cinch.” Automotive engineering may make the car easier to drive. Highway engineering and traffic engineering may make the highways and streets safer to use. Safety devices and clever inventions may help lessen the hazards in unfavorable weather conditions. But, in spite of all such improvements, first-rate driving will always demand that the driver act in accordance with sportsmanlike attitudes.

The mental make-up of a driver is often more important than his skill. It determines what he will do when he has power in his hands.

Bad Risks as Drivers

The Egotist. All babies are normally self-centered. They have not learned how to be unselfish. They have not learned how to share. They are good examples of the perfect egotist.

As people grow out of babyhood, they learn that self is really not the center of the universe. If they develop normally, they become more social; that is, their interests spread out and away from the self, and they see things more and more in the light of public good. They acquire social attitudes.

With his normal psychological make-up, the baby would make the worst possible driver. He would consider nothing but his own interest and immediate desires.

The babyish adult makes a miserable driver for the same reason. He has never outgrown his babyish egotism. He may have had the kind of childhood training that makes grown-up persons act like babies.

On the highway, this egotistical, babyish type of person betrays himself by such practices as:

• Pulling out of line to the confusion of others.
• Stopping or making turns without signaling.
• Making turns from improper traffic lanes.
• Cutting in too closely after passing.
• Not staying on his own side of the road or in his traffic lane.
• Boasting of breaking traffic laws.
• Acting as though accidents happen only to others.
• “Chiseling in,” out of turn.
• Demanding the right-of-way.
• Using influence and “pull” for ticket fixing.
• Parking double, for his own convenience.
• Parking his car so that it occupies almost two parking spaces.
• Pulling out from the curb without signaling or looking for approaching cars.

The egotists is a psychological misfit in the traffic picture. He is easily spotted. He is never admired. The habit of thinking of others can keep you from being one.

The Show-off. Like the egotist, the show-off discloses that he has never properly grown up. He has never managed, no matter what his age, to get both feet on the ground and to see himself in his proper place among other men and women. He is like the child who enjoys dangling his lolly-pop in other children’s faces! He is competitive and boastful. Often he is suffering from a sense of inferiority which he is covering up by trying to appear superior. He doesn’t stop to realize how ridiculous he looks to others.

The show-off is a bad risk as a driver because of practices like the following:

• Driving too fast for conditions.
• Driving more recklessly the larger his audience.
• Creating near emergencies to prove that he can get out of them.
• Boasting of his car’s speed and power and of his own skill.
• Boasting of the time he makes between places.
• Acting more for showmanship than for sportsmanship.
• Passing other cars at risky places and talking about his luck.
• Painting his car with “loud” colors and smart remarks or plastering it with stickers.
• Being ready to prove he can “stop on a dime.”
• Being ready to take a chance or to “try anything once.”
• Being willing to turn the highway into a race track.
• Boasting that he can drive just as well after a drink or two.
• Always taking a dare.
• Passing red lights and stop signs with an air of bravado.
• Trying to give the impression that he drives like “a man who has been around a lot.”

Admired by none, the “smart-aleck” is likely to think he is admired by all.

The Over-Emotional. Uncontrolled emotions are another sign of immaturity. A baby does not have the problem of controlling his emotions; he just expresses them. Ability to control emotions and remain calm under stress should develop as you grow older. With proper training and a desire to be mature, such emotional control should show by the time you reach your later teens.

But some persons are never more than adult-sized babies as far as their emotions are concerned. They take the slightest criticism as a personal offense. They whine and sulk and become resentful. Unimportant trifles seem big to them. We say they “make mountains out of molehills.” Their emotional development has been stunted. They have never really grown up. We call them “unstable,” because they cannot be depended on.

Persons with stunted emotional development show characteristic driving faults. Psychological trouble-shooters can spot them because they:

• Lack presence of mind in emergencies.
• Get “upset” over trifles, or are nervous in unusual situations.
• Lose their temper and, consequently, their judgment.
• Express anger by driving recklessly.
• Show impatience in traffic jams and start irrational horn-blowing.
• Flash their lights in the eyes of oncoming drivers.
• Talk loud, or use profanity.
• Call traffic officers by abusive names.
• Resort to boorish crowding and pushing others out of their lanes.
• Are easily distracted from the main business of driving.

Childish giving away to emotions is responsible for a great many traffic emergencies and accidents. Regardless of age, people with childish emotional behavior are not worthy of driving licenses.

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