SAFETY FIRST

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 208, 27 April 1932, Page 2

SAFETY FIRST

o • WELLINGTON AUTOMOBILE CLUB'S TALKS TO CHILDREN SOME SIMPLE RULES Some little time ago an arrangement was made between the Wellington Automobile Club and the Headmasters' Association whereby addresses may be given. to the children of city and suburban schools on Safety First. No roster of visits was arranged, as it was agreed that the most satisfactory plan would be for i headmasters to invite the club'srepresentatives to attend their schools at convenient times. The first lecture was given last week to the children of the Kilbirnie School at the invitation of the headmaster, Mr. R. P. Broad, by the secretary and chief service officer of the club, and was a thoroughly interesting hour for the children and for the club officers as well. A talk was first given to about 350 of the older children, and then a shorter talk was given to the infants, who were partieularly keen and very earnest about it all. Since the new tunnel was opened traffic conditions past the school have altered very greatly, and the talk was for that reason the more important. In discussing the club's plan with a Wellington "Post" reporter, the secretary said that teachers and their assistants were doing very good work in impressing the children with the necessity of taking greater care in the streets, but the question was of such importance that there was still plenty of room for the Automobile Club to take a part in

a safety first campaign among those with whom it would be most effective, the children. The talk was confined to five main safety rules: — Always keep to the footpath when you can, and cross the road at a safety zone if there is one. Look both ways before crossing, and always avoid stepping out from behind a stationary car. Never play on the road; play in the areas provided, or in your own home. Do not play chasing or ball games in the street. Never steal rides on vehicles. Trolleys and Tricycles Referring to the sad accident recently when three small boys were injured, one fatally, when attending to a trolley which had broken down on the roadway, the secretary remarked that such an accident carried its own lesson so sharply that it was scarcely necessary to enlarge upon it. Children should never push or ride trolleys or tricycles on the roadway. It was exceedingly dangerous. Trolleys and tricycles were low set and unlighted, and were very difficult for drivers of cars or lorries to pick up at night, when on no account should children be permitted to operate them on the roadway. There was the fact, very easiiy overlooked, and not allowed for hy adults, that the child concentrates upon the business he has in hand to the exclusion of everything else, and thus a child may be entirely unmindful of danger that would be apparent to an adult, simply because his tricycle or his trolley is taking up the whole of his attention. The secretary mentioned that in the case of one school the roadway at the school entrance had been made safer hy a very simple means. From the school a right of way leads down to the main road at a slight slope, and the youngsters used to tear down and wex*e on the road before they had any chance of looking either way. A couple of posts and a light fence between them had now checked the children and a danger spot was removed. At several other schools there were similar rights of way which could as . easiiy he made safe.