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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1968-03-28, Page 15loctgai. campaign' rghahl Ch o Y needed mass. of ,motorists, to make them real, 12e that ,discourtesy, lack pfgpp,.. sideration:and, they are. in control of that lethal weapon, the 'automobile,. can and ogten does result in very severe injury and in all too many ,cases, death. BOOR'POSTURE As a medical observer of the British scene over a consider- able number of years and now of the Canadian scene, I am struck by the number of Canadian child- ren and adolescents who have a less than satisfactOry posture In compar/SPP with their 13000. counterparts, I hasten to add that this Phser- ya tion is a dispassionate one; Serionsly, however,,p9Pr posture carries with it several disad- vantages. The PersPn concerned has a less attractive appearance, is More subject to tipper respir- atory tract infeetions, such as bronchitis, due to inadequate ven- tilation of the lungs, and may have impaired efficiency of the digestive system. What the reasons are for this larger percentage of postural S Joins RAP . Exeter council this week aPpoint- ed Carf Cann to fill the vacancy on RAP created by the resigna- tion of Bill Gilfillan. Past presi- dent of the Board of Trade, Mr. Cann has been active on the rodeo committee. SPECIAL DISCOUNT OFFER on Texaco Motor Oils and Lubricants. Start the new season with savings—the Texaco way! Now you can make big savings on bulk purchases of top-quality Texaco products, including world fa- mous brand names like Havoline Motor Oil and Marfak! Take advantage of this unusual opportu- nity. Give us a call today. We'll save you money. * Farm Trade Only. W "BILL" McFALLS 227 Wellington St. Exeter, Ontario. Tel.: 235-2840 Your Community Texaco Distributor Mexican Bean Beetle and Corn Root Worm -!!You're Dead!" With one application of DI-SYSTON liquid mixed with LIQUID FERTILIZER at planting time Di-syston is a systemic insecticide entering the plant by absorption through the roots. The insecticide with the liquid fertilizer placed in the root zone is drawn into all parts of'planto killing all sucking insects feeding on the roots, stem or leaf. Now for the first time you can control those crop destroyers with liquid fert- ilizer and have no application costs. CANN'S MILL LTD. Custom Plant Corn & Beans with Pop-up* Liquid Fertilizer *50 LBS. OF NON-BURNING FERTILIZER PLACED WITH THE SEED AT NO EXTRA COST! • Higher Yields For Extra Profit • Earlier Maturity For Early Harvest In addition to the aboVe, we service about 30 other liquid fertilizer planters in the area. If you are interested in reducing your spring work load — go liquid with us. CANN'S MILL :LTD. EXETER 235-1782 EXETER 235-1782 Contact These Custom Operators For Service: CLARENCE KNIGHT HUBERT MILLER GORDON PRANCE BLAIR BROS. JACK ESSERY GLEN LAYTON CHAS. BRANDON EXETER 235.2666 DASHWOOD 237-3627 KI R KTON 229.8856 KIRKTON 229.6603 CENTRALIA 228-6392 CLINTON 482-9939 CLINTON 482-9275 MOH discusses 'violence, .driver and pasture Times-Advocate, March 28, 1868 ago is Conduct of some drivers brands them as sociat:misfits: • • ,defects I do not know, or whether •It is a finding across Canada or limited to SetithernPpiarip, s4mvoion, of posture when" woog or sitting (most es p, ,0044 at table or desk) and adequate .organized sport and. PhySiCal o0gc44on are of great Ovortame., and preptplte04, ers and youth leaders all have .a psrt to play,. That 'phypical RcincatInn, is an essential school subject not to be cancelled due to theprePaing demands of other subjects or as a DWI) punishment should axiomatic in the drawing up and aPPlieetiPn Of school achetitiles, • • # • # 4 WY The Health of the county of letY Y.4441411} is a type of be- . 'woo, a report issued hy MPH ha four which r u p fierce Dr. G. p. A. Evans, contains passions, It is not only regarded a report on violence, the ag, as inexcusahle but also inborn, grepsive driver and a comment prehensible, Personal violence on the posture of Canadian child- Can sometimes he Comprehended, ren and adolescents. theft May be explicable, but Why The report is as, follows: ;;sheer" destruction where there In a property-consPlOus soc- is no apparent gain. Other' adjectives used— "wanton", "airtiless", ""point less" etc. reflect this perplex- ity, Criminologists tend to accept rather than question the lay jud- gment of vandalism as ;mean- ingless" and the very use of the label "vandalism" distorts at- tempts to uncover motivation. It is an emotive label, not a legal term. Aggression resulting from frustration may be put forward as an explanation. Such a theory does not explain why property— and only certain types of property are the objects of aggression. Is the eventual target only a symbol of or substitute for the original aggression? In how many cases is the act only the last stage in a series of traumatizing incidents? e.g. Boss rockets em plo y e e , em- ployee ""takes it out" on his Wife after work, wife shouts at the little boy, then vandalism comes in, little boy throws a stone through a window. A United States study recog- nizes three types--predatory, vindictive and wanton. Predatory and vindictive can be identified SE FOR AND YOU SEE JONES THE CAN YOUR PERSONAL KIND LOCAL 0 MAcNAT:MATC)51 DS EXETER DEPEND 6 OF 235-0363 SERVICE $ ON DEALER QUALITY 0 . . . 1 HURON BRAND FIELD SEEDS AND GRASSES r HARDI-GREEN PASTURE MIXES NEW AND IMPROVED VARIETIES OF CLOVER -TIMOTHY -GRASSES fairly readily, and wantoncovers the situations which do not fit into the other two categories. An unusual example of vindictive vandalism was that of a 13-year - old English boy who, disappoint- ed at the Christmas giftsre- eeived after Praying, decided to "get my own back on God", and Set fire to the Church, .causing over $15,000.00 damage, An English study of vandalism from court records gives a sort of itlenti-kit picture of the of- fender. (The use of the term ;;offender" is important, be- cause most perpetrators of van- dalism go undetected.)—Work- ing-class, urban, male adoles- cent. He passes through the mid- dle-class dominated school system without becoming com- mitted to its values such as ambition. After school, he drifts in and out of a series of dull, undemanding jobs. He takes refuge in the com- mercial teenage culture. In lei- sure also his ways are blocked, youth organizations and typically middle-class outlets such as pol- itical and community activity, look superbly irrelevant to him, and, despite so-called affluence, the commercial culture can be sampled but not bought. So delinquency in the shape of vandalism steps into the gap. It is ;manufactured excitement" and may be indulged in either on the lone-wolf basis or as a mem- ber of a group. The latter form is much more common and intro- duces the complicating factor of approval from peers. This often results in heightened aggression and increased damage and is closely related to group psychol- ogical intoxication. A final factor to be considered in vandalism is that the method of reporting group vandalism by press, radio and television can affect future patterns and may even result in an epidemic or waves of incidents. This was il- lustrated most clearly in the ""mods and rockers" occur- rences in South-east England several years ago. A reasonable conclusion to these remarks is that there is a need to try much harder to under stand behavior such as vandalism and Co be cautious about hyster- ical denunciation based on the wrong labels. However, it is important that such understand- ing and caution should not be accompanied by over-permis- siveness. It is tempting indeed to write at some length on violence as it is depicted and described in the various art forms. It will have to suffice in this Context on this occasion to comment on the stoAciy, erosion of Standards films and television PlaYs, That modern man ,almost Titres to see violence in PlaYa or films prom time to time is accepted by many. It can pe regarded ap a vicarious Partici- PatiPil in substitution for eX- cespive aggression necessarily suppressed for the Welfare Of the family and Society. How- ever, when strong sexual and or sadistic elements are grafted on to the violence, then a rea- sonable harmleps escape valve can become a menacing in- fluence especially when the phy- sically immature are subjected to it. AGGRESSIVE DRIVERS "More people have died on the roads of the world than on the battlefields of both world wars. The killing continues at a yearly rate of 200,000 and 5,000,000 are injured." This disturbing quotation highlights the third aspect of violence of concern to Public Health and Social Med- icine—The Aggressive Driver. Road deaths are almost never attributed, except in cases of dangerous driving, to personal violence. The great majority are described as accidents, the result of carelessness, bad roads, laek of skill, faulty cars, poor visi- bility, general weather conditions and many other plausible causes not necessary to enumerate in detail. The psychology of the motorist, himself, is usually ignored, yet every time a driver gets into his car, he has at the touch of a foot, or a hand, the most dangerous weapon he is ever likely to handle, and in his anger he is lethal. We are all aware of incidents such as the following described in a responsible motoring maga- zine. Briefly, the account con- cerns a driver overtaking when really he should not have done so. Admittedly, in this he was at fault. When it was too late to come back into line he realized that he would be very hard put to it to avoid head-on collision with an on-corning car. The reaction of the driver of the on-coming car was to shine his lights at full beam into the eyes of the overtaking driver making a very difficult task al- most impossible. Miraculously, the overtaking driver did manage to complete the over-take and get back into line with no more than a second or two to spare. The worst feature of the in- cident, however, was the con-- 4 duct of the ,cirivpr being tWer- taken, who delibera.tely arid vig, prously Accelerated. The author remarks, "The driver of the car being overtaken deserves spec- ial mention, what he did was Attempted murder, it was coolly and deliber ately executed, nothing slipshod. Only the poor output of his engine failed him," Unfortunately, psychology re - mains the Poorest relation of accident Prevention. Many mil- lions of dollars are spent de- signing cars which are as safe as possible, but little is done to find out why people drive in the way they do. However much cars are made safer and roads are improved, there is unlikely to be a real break-through in accident prevention, u nt i 1 the psychology of the driver is taken fully into account. Aggression is one of the prim- ary instincts of man; it is not surprising that many drivers under stress become dangerously aggressive, use sulphurous lang- uage, race competitively and "carve-up" other drivers. The worst cases of aggressive driving are almost certainly link- ed to mental illness. Canty, Dir- ector of a Detroit Clinic related to a traffic offences court, found in a survey of more than 800 traffic offenders, specially re- ferred to the Clinic by the Courts, that 90% of them were mentally ill. The sample contained a large proportion of drivers of very low intelligence and of unstable and immature personality. Canty writes ;;It has often been said that a person behaves in a manner totally different from his usual pattern when he is be- hind the wheel of his car. This not so. His personality does not change. There is one significant difference: when a driver is in his own car, there is more free- dom to demonstrate the presence of unsocial, irresponsible and even antisocial traits. The complete clinical study to which these chronic traffic vio- laters are subjected unmasks these people for what they really are—social misfits". One has only to observe the conduct of some drivers on Highways 21, 8 and 4 and of some of the youth of Huron County on the Square of Goderich on Saturday and Sunday afternoons to realize the fright- ening accuracy of these remarks. The great majority of aggres- sive drivers do not, of course, fall into the category described by Canty, yet, their mental at- titudes are hardly less pro- ductive of death and injury. A long-term intensive, psycho- LIMITED TIME ONLY!