SAFE WALKERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 August 1938, Page 7

SAFE WALKERS

LICENCES FOR PEDESTRIANS. “Would you mind walking down the road with me? I have had my walking licence suspended.” If a young person in London asks you this question, there is no need of concern, for pedestrian licences for children are the newest things in road safety in this city. At Barham School, on the outskirts of London, the cnildren are participating in an experiment along these lines. Later it is hoped to introduce the scheme throughout Essex. The youngsters have been presented with badges and with “road safety licences.” They must be vigilant in observing the rules of the road, or, rather, the rules of the pavement, if they are to keep their badges and their licences intact. Each licence has a number of elementary safety rules printed on it, and breaches of these rules mean an endorsement on the licence; until finally, if the teacher thinks there are too many endorsements, the licence and the road safety badge are taken away. The child only wins the badge back after showing, when in company with a “warden,” that he or she has become a safe walker once more. Then the licence is returned, as new, and the holder tries to keep its pages free from any endorsements in future. Senior children act as wardens to check up on walking “offences.”