TRAFFIC TRAINER FOR SCHOOLS Demonstration Of Use Next Week

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28541, 21 March 1958, Page 17

TRAFFIC TRAINER FOR SCHOOLS Demonstration Of Use Next Week

The schools’ traffic trainer unit will be demonstrated in use at the Mairehau school on Friday afternoon, April 11, and education and traffic authorities, parents and interested members of the public have been invited to attend. The demonstrations have been arranged at the request of the Transport Department to allow the public to see in action the road safety instruction given to the children of New Zealand.

The trainer will be taken to each of the main schools in Christchurch during the third term of this year and, under the guidance of Transnort Department officers, each class and every child will participate in the exercises. Children will thus be able to put into practice the theories they learn under realistic conditions and at no risk to themselves.

The main emphasis is on pedestrian and cyclist road, behaviour to develop road sense in children, and the cars used are only part of the unit to provide a realistic situation. The exercises using the unit are not games but are carefully graded steps towards road competence Spread out over a 100 foot square area are roads, intersections complete with crossings and traffic lights, shoos, and road signs. Six pedal cars—each more than six feet long and with fibr«-glass bodies and flashing trafficators—and six bicycles continually use the miniature roads while the exercises are in progress. Infant Classes The infant classes begin with group crossings of intersections under the care' of a senior pupil or teacher which include stepping out between parked cars and "rossing with traffic lights. Slightly old°r children learn elementary cycle drill with hand signals, and keeping to the left Standard three and four punils l°arn the use of pedestrian crossings in groups and singly and advanced cycle exercises with traffic lights and turning at intersections.

The last stage is an exercise with a 1! teams using the unit at the same time. While the infants do their simple drill, cars and cycles circle the area and cyclists approach corners, give way to traffic and, in general, simulate actual road conditions. At present the unit does not include school patrol signs as it is felt by Transport Department authorities that infant classes can become over-reliant on the protection given bv these signs. The traffic trainer will be in Christchurch for a week and then will go to Dunedin for a similar demonstration before being flown to Auckland for use there and in the Hamilton district during the winter. It will then return to Christchurch and begin a South Island tour.