Harrison Tutors

About Harrison

Harrison is a village, and a town, located in New York State. Harrison was originally established as a town. But when Purchase, a community within Harrison, decided it wanted to become its own village, mayor John A. Passidomo decided to take preemptive measures to keep the two communities conjoined. To avoid being served the papers that would have started the legal process of separating, Passidomo snuck into his office through the fire escape. While inside, he made Harrison a village. Legally, a village cannot divide to form another village. To this day, Purchase is still a part of Harrison, and the area is legally both a town and a village.

Despite his sneaky antics, Passidomo was voted mayor of Harrison eight times. Perhaps, Passidomo tutored the next mayor in how to run the town. He served as mayor from 1968 to 1983; and then resigned from the position so that he could become the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. As Commissioner, he continued to work hard serving the state of New York, and also helped pass the first seat-belt laws in the nation.

Seat belts were invented in the mid 1800’s by English engineer George Cayley. The first patent, was granted to Edward J. Claghorn of New York, in 1885. Claghorn designed his Safety-Belt for people like painters and firemen, who used machines to raise and lower themselves. The patent stated that the belt was, “designed to be applied to the person, and provided with hooks and other attachments for securing the person to a fixed object.” Considering that the mass production of motor vehicles in the U.S. did not occur until 1908, it's a wonder that Safety-Belt technology was not utilized sooner.

It wasn’t until the 1950’s, that seat belts were even considered in the U.S. In 1955, Dr. C. Hunter Shelden was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, proposing the use of retractable seat belts, recessed steering wheels, reinforced roofs, roll bars, door locks, and passive restraints like air bags, to lower incidences of injuries and death in automotive accidents. Because of Shelden, congress passed legislation that required all automobiles to comply with safety standards, but there was still no law saying passengers had to wear seat belts.

The world’s first seat belt law was not officially passed until 1970, and it wasn’t even in the U.S. That year, Victoria, Australia required all front-seat passengers to wear seat belts. There was still a long way to go. Passidomo understood the seat-belt’s potential for saving lives; when he became New York’s DMV Commissioner, he worked to help advance seat-belt legislation in the U.S. Thanks to his help and others, the first U.S.law that required passengers to wear seat belts passed in 1984.

Harrison tutors want every student do well in school. If your student is struggling in school, a Harrison tutor could be just what you need. Every student deserves the chance to succeed.