“SAFETY FIRST.”

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 3 December 1924, Page 9

“SAFETY FIRST.”

WARDING TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. RULES OF THE ROAD. CAMPAIGN OF INSTRUCTION. [With a view to urging upon schoolchildren the importance of observing the rules of the road and to exercise the greatest care in order that accidents may be avoided, several prominent members of the South Taranaki Automobile Association to-day addressed the pupils in various schools on the matter.]

Addresses, were delivered as follows: Hawera main school, Tokaora, and Okaiawa, Dr. Thomson and Mr E. P. Cox; Tawhiti, Nornyanby, and Te Roti, Messrs P. G’Dea and \V. O’Callaghan. Addresses were also arranged for at Eltham, Opunake, Patea, and Manaia schools By branch members of _the Automobile Association.

At Hawera school to-day Mr. Bates introduced, the speakers to the children. He stated that the children would recollect that he had frequently spoken to them of the. dangers of not attending to the rules of the road and of being careless when, crossing. He was very glad the Autofnobile Association had also taken the matter up, and the speakers would point out liow necessary it was for the children to take every care, both for their own sakes and' for the sake of the drivers of the cars.

Dr. Thomson said that he and Mr. Cox: represented the South Taranaki Automobile Association. Similar bodies were being formed all over the Dominion and one of the tlmi-gs they were trying to do was to make the roads as safe as possible. They were not only trying to educate pedestrians, but also; the driven® of motor cars how to avoid accidents. The first thing, that was necessary was that they should’ know’ the rules of the roads, and the most important was that tlie.v should keep to- . the left. People in the larger centres were being- taught to keep to the left on the pavement as well as, on the: roadway. It whs just as essential to keep to the left on a country road whether walking, riding or driving as it was iii a large city. The only occasion oil. which they should not keep to the left was when they were oyertaking another vehicle. The older boys and girls should be requested to teach the younger ones, -as it was the smaller children who proved the most difficult to avoid. Very frequently young children crashed the road in lows of lour or five. When a motor car approached they frequently scattered instead of all keeping to the left. Young children should be taught not to do that. Tlie great danger lay in tlie probability of there being another car behind the one which gave the first warning. The same tiling applied in tlie case of children who rode to school on horse-hack. In nine case out of ten they scattered instead of all keeping t-o- the left. When walking in town they should be very careful, particularly when, stepping off the pavement on tlie left- side. There was great danger if tlie pedestrian failed to look behind before stetpping off the pavement. The children should also' see that- their, elders keep to the rules of the road. There was another important matter to which, attention should be drawn, and that was the practice of boys in riding bicycles without holding the handlebars. It looked very -smart, but if the front wheel happened to strike a stone, the risk of a serious a~rident was very great. Mr E. P. Cox said that the idea behind the association’s decisiop to deliver short lectures to school children was to try • and make the. roads safe for all and to see that accidents were avoided as far as possible. He did not want the impression created that the idea was to keep the children off the roads or to try and make the highway safe for the reckless driver. -So far as he knew there were no reckless drivers in the association, and if there were he hoped they would not long remain so. The association would not tolerate the man' who, by feckless driving, endangered the lives of others as well as his own. The purpose of addressing the children was to prevent them running into danger. Chie of the dangers motorists had to contend with wasthat children would insist on stopping on the roads in groups, particularly at street corners. Boys were sometimes inclined to stand in the middle of the road' to see how near they could get to a passing car. If the children remembered to avoid all these dangerous practices the roads would he safe for all. The whole aim of the association was ,to do justice to everyone. The headmaster said that he hoped the children would appreciate the remarks made.

Tlie pupils, before dispersing to their various class rooms, gave cheers for the speakers.