SAFETY''FIRST

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 24, 29 January 1938, Page 18

SAFETY''FIRST

A 'national.' "Safety First■■-' Corigress" was:held, in London- in' the--Park Lane Hotel -.recently,■■.when special mention- was ; made of-the responsibility of -parents, ■ and a certain, "indictment" of them was made, by Colonel Pickardi He criticised particularly the well-off ■ parents who allow their children to ride "toy■-cycles, bicycles too big for them, and later on cheap motor cycles and broken<-down motor-cars. He;pointed out-that accidents mostly occur'■,when children are. at ..the ages of 3-7 when the")child .is .under the control' of the. parents, at 14-18. when many children ..have left: school, : and again '.at 21-?5 when .presumably, they are under no control but their own and are free, to indulge. their' passion for speed! .The debt" to teachers and the police for the comparative safety 01 children :■ under . their . control was warmly acknowledged..The point made by most of the speakers was the necessity of suiting.the.■'traffic, to the child rather than the child to .the -traffic. Speed Was decried.as the overwhelming evil, and regret was.expressed that the speed limit had- been withdrawn. In London an organised effort, is being made to teach children from the schools the necessity for care ' when crossing the roads. Parties are taken out by a responsible person" and the whole matter demonstrated and explained '■ to them.1 In some cases the older children are serit-to'certain points to :guide the small ones over "danger ■points." "•"- .:'■:'■:■)■ :■-,'-" ••.■•-:;••■