TESTING TAXI-DRIVERS.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18372, 4 May 1925, Page 10

TESTING TAXI-DRIVERS.

Some novel tests are being used byAmerican taxi-cab companies to ensure that their drivers are careful, intelligent men. They have been devised by Dr. A. J. Snow, an industrial psychologist, who, in order to study the men and their work, himselx became a driver (says R.C. in tie "Daily Graphic"). One of the most interesting is the "fear test," in which the driver is placed before a high-frequency machine in a dark room. Two foot pedals, on the floor correspond to the operating pedals of the car. The man's {eft hand rests on, a telegraph key, which closes the circuit to a tiny red lainp on a swjtch board in front of him. By the light from this he is to manipulate a series of wires with Ms right hand, the results being recorded by auotner globe and a tell-tale light outside ijhe test chamber. This shows that me man has feet and hands in the correct positions. Suddenly, while he is busy on his task, a brilliant blue spark leaps across a gap just under his nose, miother darts towards his left hand. He has been told, should anything unusual occur, to release the control, step on another pedal, aud turn a swiich with his right hand. This he now does —or should do—and the electrical discharge stops. And th© operator outside the test room, aimed with a stopwatch, records how many seconds elipsed between the instant the test Was begun, and the time the driver reacts correctly. It is certainly a good test for "nerves." Written tests are also given to measure the man's intelligence, memory, and observations;; also his amountl of common sense is ascertained. For asample, a number of objects are pla:ed on a table, and the man, is told to remove them to tl ree smaller tables. The objects are as varied as a small bottle, a sack of sugar, a book, a bar of soap, a pound of butter, a can of jJetrol, a bottle of ink, a box of eggs, a limp, and a sack of flour And the iiiree tables are equally bizarre. One bks a pan of water for a top, the second has a lighted candle stuck in the centre, and the third is decidedly unsteady. The test is to place the objects!correctly. For example, one should not place the petrol near the lighted candle, nor the tack of flour on the bly table, while obviously, only waterproof articles should go into the* pan of water. j.

According to "Popular Mechanics," the tests when checked against the actual accident records of the men 1 concerned were found to tally in more than 90 per cent, of all cases.