90 Percent Accident Drop Is Result of Scientific Training by Traffic Bureau

Harry R. DeSilva, head of driver training in the Bureau for Street Traffic Research, having supervised scientific driver tests on several control groups of 500 men apiece, reported yesterday that a 90 percent reduction in the accidents of his subjects had been shown after exhaustive clinic tests had been conducted in seventeen states.

Those drivers who received what Dr. DeSilva termed "generalized safety instruction" produced only a 60 percent accident reduction, thus demonstrating conclusively to the Bureau the effectiveness of scientific tests, as compared to the less specific training given to other control groups.

The 90 percent reduction was found after a check was made of 500 repeaters who had taken the Bureau's tests. Another "general instruction" group of 500 showed a 66 percent decrease in accidents.

Dr. DeSilva declared, "You can get results by using scientific tests because the driver is convinced then. People don't do things because you tell them, but because it seems reasonable to them."