Care and prevention of traffic accidents.
The ideas
Road safety education involves not only the rules and regulations regarding traffic and circulation of people and vehicles; it should also raise people’s awareness about their responsibilities. We are all responsible for the actions that we carry out when we are moving around in the city, it doesn’t matter if we are pedestrians, cyclists, if we are taking the bus or driving our own vehicles.
The way people move around town is an expression of the society itself, because it is a conscious, active and constructive civic exercise. That’s why road safety education at an early age is so important, because it is the most effective way to achieve better coexistence in public places and in traffic.
The students carried out research on the main problems in the school neighbourhood. Fifth year students…
• observed driver’s and pedestrians’ behaviour outside school
• took photographs
• identified problems
• did a brainstorming of ideas.
They found the following problems:
• There were no signs warning of the presence of a school in the area.
• Cars parked in several queues outside school
• There were cars parked in front of the school’s main door, in front of driveways and wheelchairs ramps.
• Bikes and motorbikes circulated against traffic.
• Pedestrians walked among moving cars
• Drivers didn’t respect school children’s priority to cross the street.
• There are no zebra crossings, road speed reducers or traffic lights.
• The garbage truck drove backwards for half a block.
The initiatives
Fifth year students took into account the problems, which they pointed out themselves, and they wrote down a list of ideas that might help increase road safety outside school. They...
• Looked for information about rules and regulations about road safety.
• Drew a risk map.
• Built traffic signs.
• Booked a talk that was delivered by local specialists.
• Designed a simulacrum of traffic circulation in the school gymnasium. They simulated a street and several vehicles, some made with recycled materials. Kindergarten and primary school children participated in the games; they were expected to move around respecting the rules.
• Designed and made educational games such as puzzles, board games, dominoes.
• Designed leaflets with road safety tips that the kids coloured themselves and took home for their parents to read.
• Identifying violation of rules. They took black and white photos of cars and they had to colour the ones parked in inappropriate places.
These projects were designed for the entire school community; through the many awareness-raising activities carried out, we reached students age five to eight.
Fifth year high school students took an active part in the whole process; they identified the problems, designed activities and carried out the games with the younger students.
