CHILDREN AND TRAFFIC DANGERS.

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 56, Issue 4008, 4 February 1938, Page 4

CHILDREN AND TRAFFIC DANGERS.

THE death of 16 children and the injury of 420 in road accidents during the last nine months of the year 1937 are evidence of the need for the intensification of the road-safety campaign. The announcement by the Hon. R. Semple that the Transport Department intends to make special efforts to reduce the toll of child casualties is, therefore, to be welcomed. Before any substantial improvement in the accident rate affecting children can be expected they must be taught the rules of self-pre-servation on the roads. A good deal has already been done in the schools and by propaganda in various ways, but it is clear that the campaign must be intensified. Special efforts in England have been attended by encouraging results. School children are taken in classes to the streets and given practical de njonst rations on how to cross safely, to board and get off public conveyances, and how generally to conduct themselves in traffic. They are taught not to fear but to respect traffic and how to avoid the common dangers of the streets. An intelligently-conducted campaign, practical rather than theoretical, should not fail to bring a reduction in the number of accidents on our highways.