ROAD SENSE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 October 1938, Page 4

ROAD SENSE

TEACHING THE CHILDREN There is one place in London where "jay walking” is not tolerated, and that is on the children’s playground at Tottenham’s recreation park off Lordship Lane. The playground has been laid out in streets, avenues, and crescents, and traffic lights, beacons, and all known road signs have been put up to teach young children road sense. Only children between five and eleven may use the highways, which have all been named.

Toy motor-cars (propelled by footpedals), cycles, or tricycles can be hired at a halfpenny for a quarter of an hour. When this instructional centre was opened they intended to give the children half an hour, but the crowd was so great that they had to reduce the time. In any case the children are finding a quarter of an hour quite long enough. Grown-ups may use the paths, and if they do they must use the pedestrian crossings. The traffic instructors can be sarcastic about setting the children an example. Some bright soul has already suggested that grown-ups should be fined a penny for “jay walking.” Children can use their own cycles, but these must conform to a certain size. The cars for hire have all “L” cards, and it is suggested that children will pass examinations and be granted a driving certificate- which will entitle them to hire a car without an “L” plate. There is a miniature telephonebox in the ground and accidents will be staged and children will report them from this box to the shed where the cars are hired. They are thorough at Tottenham and the scheme is already an assured success. It is not only a delight but also an education for grown-ups to see how very earnest about it all these small drivers are. This is the first centre of its kind in England, and the idea is almost certain to be used in other playgrounds over the country.