Jaycees Road-E-O – May 1956

Driving in a safe, courteous manner with respect for other drivers often seems to be a lost art these days.

We've all seen it – young drivers driving at excessive speeds, recklessly passing against the yellow line and risking a head-on collision; senior drivers driving way too slowly, ten or fifteen miles per hour below the speed limit, totally oblivious to other cars on the road; and most common these days, distracted drivers paying more attention to their phones than other cars.

Of course it's always the other drivers who do this. Not us.

Anyway, it's important to teach young drivers good habits as well as the ability to safely operate their vehicle. And back in the 1950s, the Lorain Jaycees helped to reinforce those principles by sponsoring the annual Teen-Age Road-E-O.

Here's the ad with the announcement from the May 15, 1956 Lorain Journal.

It's all explained in this article that ran in the same edition of the paper.

As the article notes,"All licensed teen-aged drivers who have never been found guilty on a driving offense are eligible to enter.

"Contests, both written and driving, will be given.

"The driving test will consist of maneuvering a car through a course set up on the parking lot."

The actual Road-E-O would be held at the Homewood Shopping Center. It was sponsored by the Lorain Jaycees, Sohio gas stations and cooperating Lorain automobile dealers, who would supply the cars.

Some nice cash prizes were to be given to the winners, along with the opportunity to compete in the Ohio Road-E-O finals.

Who were the Lorain Road-E-O winners? This article from May 28, 1956 revealed their names.

Harold Donerkeil and Ina Sorenson were the winners entitled to continue to the state finals, as "regulations dictate that one boy and one girl can qualify for further competition." But Jess A. Vargo was the actual second place winner behind Donerkeil.

So what was the driving portion of the competition like?

"The test consisted of driving a straight line course, a serpentine course, a curved course and parking. Cars had to be driven through two of the courses both forward and backward."

A nifty idea from 1956 that deserves to be revived today.