ROAD SAFETY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24971, 14 August 1944, Page 4

ROAD SAFETY

FEWER CHILDREN HURT 3 TRAFFIC LESSONS EFFECTIVE A striking improvement in tho degree of safety for children on the roads in i comparison with the general accrident i position is revealed in tho annual report 1 of the Transport Department. In 1943 < the number of casualties among adult < pedestrians and cyclists showed a slight increase again, but the schoolchildren < casualties showed a further drop to 106, : or only 63 per cent of the 1942 total. : Compared with the 408 child casualties ] of 1938 last year's figure is only a little more than a quarter. Tho improvement since before tho war has boon progressive. It is hoped that, in addition to reducing the immediate accident rate among juveniles, persistent instruction of schoolchildren will have a beneficial long-term result upon tho general position in New Zealand The department states that the safety courso of traffic instruction in schools is of such importance and effectiveness that it has beon extended. Ine great burden of the instruction, of course, was necessarily carried by the schoolteachers themselves in their daily work. Additional Instructors J After an unavoidable break of 12 j months the two departmental road traf- | fic instructors resumed their work in the schools in February, 1943, and later in tho vear two additional full-time instructors were appointed to the departDuring tho year a scheme was brought into operation co-ordinating all the "outside" traffic instruction availab e to schools. Hitherto some of the local bodies had sent their traffic inspectors and some of tho automobile associations their road service officers to schools for the purpose of lecturing to pupils on matters of traffic conduct. Uniform Patrol System In order to ensure that only suitable persons from bodies outside the schools participated, a committee was set up in each education district to approve the instructors, consisting of the chairman and secretary of tho Education Board, the senior inspector of schools, and tho Transport Department s instructor for the district. Forty-six local instructors bad been approved, either provisionally or outright, by the various committees. Each of the instructors had for his guidance a syllabus of instruction, approved by the Education Department. Draft regulations providing for a uniform system of school patrols had been circulated to municipalities and motor organisations and _to tho education hoards for their views. The proposals were now nearing finality, following tho comments and suggestions received.