SAFETY ON THE ROADS

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXXX, Issue 9682, 20 June 1941, Page 3

SAFETY ON THE ROADS

"SCHOOL CERTIFICATES OF BICYCLE FITNESS"

POPULAR AMONG CHILDREN

Speaking at a recent road safety conference of the combined Automobile Associations of the North Island, Mr R- E. Champtaloup, touring manager of the Automobile Association (Auckland), Inc., referred to the latest innovation his association had made —"school certificates for bicycl = fitness." "The idea was introduced unde'the Automobile Association's Child Safety Educational Service," he said, "and it has taken on with great success. It is usual for one of the senior boys to be appointed as school ex-

aminer of bicycles. If the Automobile Association school patrol system • is in operation at the school one or the safety patrols carries out this ■work. If the bicycle is in perfect order, and carries'full equipment, including a red rear reflector, and a white strip painted on the back mudguard, the owner is issued with the i certificate of fitness." Reporting tji? j result of the scheme, one headmaster had informed the -'association that at. first only half »dozen of the bicycles \ ridden to the school qualified for the certificate, but it was not very long before the other'children had remedied various defects pointed out to them by the school bicycle examiner, and within a few weeks all bicycles were in such good order that they could be issued with certificates. It was pointed out by the speake; that as a result of this scheme the incvcles.were much safer for the children to ride and there was less liability to accident from the motorists' point of view. The Automobile Association (Auckland), Inc., supplies the certificate forms, free of charge, to headmasters of schools requiring them.