Amos Neyhart; Father of Driver Education Classes

Amos Neyhart, 91, known as the father of driver education classes in the United States. An assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University, he became convinced in 1931 that teen-agers should be taught how to drive safely after a drunk driver hit his parked car. He started the nation’s first driver education course by teaching volunteer students from State College High School, using his own 1929 Graham-Paige automobile. In 1933 he created a formal course, and then developed a teacher preparation course for the subject. Neyhart became director of Penn State’s Institute of Public Safety and served as consultant on driver education for the American Automobile Assn. On July 5 in State College, Pa., of a stroke.