Page 6
THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 1974
State association
began here in ’66
TAMU’s role in formation of
the Texas Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association has
been sketched in an historical ar
ticle and Dr. Leslie V. Hawkins
of TAMU’s Industrial Education
Department is prominently fea
tured.
The department’s driver edu
cation coordinator appears on
the cover of the June, 1974,
TDTSEA journal with Dr. Jack
Rhodes, University of Houston,
and Dr. James Standifer, TCU.
Standifer wrote the article.
He credits the inauguration of
the association with a 1966 driver
education workshop at TAMU.
It was sponsored by the Texas
Education Association and
under direction of Hawkins and
Lewis Spears, then state consul
tant for TEA driver education.
Para professionals lighten ‘drivers ed’ loa
Yearly, 200,000 Texas youngsters
reach the driving age and 65 percent
of them look to drivers education
courses for instruction and gui
dance.
Driver education, however, re
quires a one student to one teacher
ratio which is a far cry from the aver
age teacher in the public schools
who can instruct 30 or more stu
dents at once. Aid has come to the
hard-pressed drivers education in
structor in the form of a TAMU
program for para-professional driv
ers education instructors.
The Texas Education Agency has
funded a program for high school
graduates to be trained to act as aids
in teaching drivers education. One
supervisor can have up to four of
these para-professionals working for
him performing tasks such as run
ning a driving simulator, operating
the driving range, teaching behind
the wheel and assisting regular in
struction in the classroom.
Originator of the program. Dr.
Leslie V. Hawkins of the College of
Education at TAMU, noted, “With
one instructor, drivers education
was very expensive to teach. With
more students coming, we had to
develop new ways to teach them fas
ter and better. The state requires 30
hours of classroom instruction and
six hours at the wheel for the stu
dent.
“Now we’ve supplied over 300 of
these para-professionals to lighten
the load and improve the instruc
tion,” Hawkins pointed out. “On
the driving range, one assistant can
instruct up to 16 students at once
while another can teach 12 more in a
multi-media facility which incorpo
rates slides, movies and tapes.
“The requirements are a high
school education and a recommen-
dation from the school system or an
educational service center,” he
noted. “Then we put the candidate
through a five-week course here at
A&M. This will be our program be
ginning in July which is funded to
the tune of $68,000 by the agency.”
The course consists of 46 hours of
basic drivers education, eight hours
of a multi-media student response
system, 45 hours of teaching in
struction, 41 hours of driving
simulator instruction, 13 hours
operating the multi-car driving
range and a final 31 hours of in-car
instruction.
Hawkins cited the extn
'efc
sion of the pa ra-profession! -■
truck drivers, cablsPs*'*"®"®
are
servicemen beginning
careers and school bus,
many of them women. !
FOR
BEST
RESULTS
TRY
\NDY F
wo pern
, eight r<
ned tech
iis fcente
d to ham
BATTALION CLMSiSa,
July 4
deaths
forecast
Col. Wilson E. Speir, director of
the Texas Department of Public
Safety, estimated 42 lives would be
lost in July 4 holiday traffic acci
dents.
Speir, who declined to make
Christmas-New Year period fore
casts because of changing traffic
conditions tied to the energy crisis,
said the situation has become more
stable. He said gasoline is available
in most areas, and guessed this will
bring additional auto movement on
the highways during the mid
summer holiday.
Thirteen died in July 4 traffic last
year, but the holiday period was
only 30 hours long then, compared
to an 102-hour period this year (with
the fourth falling on Thursday).
Eighty died in 1972 holiday traffic
over a similar 102-hour period.
All available DPS troopers and
department facilities will be used to
curb unsafe and reckless drivers,
Speir said.
TTI fights
rainy day
accidents
A “War on Wet Weather Acci
dents” has been declared by the
Texas Transportation Institute.
That also is the title of a film prc>-
duced by the institute. It is the pro
duct of five years work and the re
sults of five research projects.
.The.20 minute*film describes the
research activities‘ of the Highway
Planning and Research Program
studies on wet weather driving
under way at Texas A&M Univer
sity.
Dr. Don L. Ivey, head of TTI’s
Safety Division, stated the “film is
pointed at both highway engineers
and the general driving public to
give information on what factors are
important to maintain safety while
driving in wet weather.
“The projects resulted in definite
recommendations for wet weather
driving which are in the film,” Ivey
noted. “These are grouped in three
areas—driver, vehicle and
roadway—in that order.
“For the driver it is important to
be alert, ” he pointed out. “He must
recognize that he cannot compen
sate for wet conditions if the car is
driven at dry condition speeds.
Stopping distances are doubled
while visibility is cut by as much as a
factor of ten.
“Cars are a factor, ” Ivey went on.
“Maintenance of wipers promotes
visibility. Motorists must also rec
ognize they can defog the windows
with their air conditioners. Addi
tionally they should increase tire
pressure on the car which decreases
the chance of hydroplaning.”
Church
sells land,
relocates
A five acre tract owned by the
First Baptist Church of College Sta
tion was recommended for a zone
change at the Monday night meet
ing of the College Station Planning
and Zoning Commission. The land
is currently zoned single family re
sidential and is to be changed to
apartment building.
When first purchased by the
church, the site at Highway 30 and
Munson Avenue was to be in a resi
dential neighborhood. It is now in
the middle of a growing apartment
concentration. The church plans to
sell the land and relocate.
The commission urged the City
Council to consider a proposed
amendment to the zoning ordi
nance. The amendment deals with
the establishment of a Flood Hazard
Zone.
The commission agreed to have a
session at their next meeting to con
sider changes in the zoning ordi
nances. One item to be discussed is
the creation of conditional use per
mits for construction.
QaJ SKAGGS ^
^ALBERTSONS
Ak DRUGS & FOODS
ilth
”'"of
JULY
SPECIALS GOOD
WED., THURS., FRI., SAT.
JULY 3, 4, 5, 6,1974
4TH OF JULY £
SKAGGS ALBERTSONS
HOURS
9 AM TO
cording
ile Earl
ting gro
CENTER
CUT
USDA CHOICE BEEF
LB.
SLICED BACON *79'
SLICED LUNCH MEAT.^r::....« 75 c
PURE PORK SAUSAGE “ • 69 c
RIB STEAK — ,. $ r
RIB EYE STEAK “T. , $ 2 44
CANNED HAMS a $ 3 49
BONELESS ENGLISH ROAST
SLICED CHEESE J63 c
GROUND BEEF
FRESH GROUND HOURLY
3 LB. PKG. OR MORE
*... 69
BOILED HAM
"HALVES OR WHOLE
» P
BBO CHICKEN
PRODUCED FROM USDA
GRADE "A" FRYERS
$139
POTATO SALAD
"FRESH MADE
„48 c
BBQ BEANS
"FRESH DAILY"
..«»55 c
CANNED POP
PEPSI COLA
PICKLES «*«■«..
•; 47 c
PORK & BEANS "
23 c
CHUNK TUNA “
Ci 44 c
KEEBLER COOKIES --
63 c
I V LIQUID DETERGENT ETfC
I MW UP g% | 22 02. BOTTLE J /