Importance Of Road Safety Education For Parents And Children
Unfortunately, road accident statistics show that many of its victims are children. Most of these accidents occur when they cross the street, on cars when they do not wear the protective belts, when they occupy the front seat of the car without any protection and, in the majority of cases, because public transportation does not present the minimum protective elements for passengers, this results as children being the most vulnerable of them all on all cases. Child passenger safety is one of the most important topics of discussion today.
Most countries, especially those we envy for their smooth and orderly traffic, have extensive road safety education programs that are promoted among children from a very early age. Seat boosters are required by law, children that are not wearing a seat belt in a car are applicable for a fine to the driver, and more preventive methods. The bottom line of all the laws and rules that have been applied throughout the years on these countries is that safety is very valuable and should be enforced among the population as such. All across the globe we face the constant dismissal of car safety because of the general thought that dodging the law could result in cheating the system, however the importance of maintaining a strong and lasting system to educate the masses of how car safety is among the many priorities that we should focus on is a primary point of consideration.
Road safety education is a very important point of focus in many countries all over the world, the result does not falter: Educating the youth can positively and effectively create a pattern of doing what is right. Although it would be great that this would stop all and any problems that may occur, accidents don’t depend on people only, but it does not take away from the fact that many accidents can be avoided with the right education. Traffic setback is another factor that can be dependent on factors other than road safety education, nonetheless, with education on road safety the population has a guarantee that a traffic culture is being formed, which in the medium and long term results benefits coexistence and a safer environment for children and people in the road in general.
Road safety education transmits the main rules of traffic regulations, which include rights and obligations for pedestrians and people traveling in vehicles. Teaching people of their rights and obligations can maximize their knowledge about how to avoid committing any mistakes and ultimately helps them become educated on a subject that is of their interest. It is not known that people are unaware of their rights and this sometimes backfires on both ends of the receiving and giving end. Once the concept of learning what and where people are supposed to be they can cooperate with the authorities and make road safety an accessible goal to achieve.
The aim of this process is to harmonize the needs of everyone in order to circulate on the streets properly. Once road and traffic education is further implemented, we could even manage to regulate the sound contamination such as horn sounds and noise for people who are in their homes or hospitals, achieving the coexistence and harmony of all. Sound contamination is a type of contamination that affects the environment people live in, and can result on damage to the wellbeing of all involved. This educational process must begin at home, this means road safety education programs and actions aimed at accident prevention must begin by involving parents, which in most cases are the first ones to interact with children.
Another first step towards successfully implementing this program is to teach parents that they should be the firsts to start transmitting minimum security measures to children. For example, when driving through the city, how many of us actually comply with the rules? It is known that people learn the most on the early stages of their life by example and what they see on a daily basis. A large group of the population has taken the comfortable and dangerous thought that road safety education is known by the passing of time, as if it were an inheritance transmitted by genes or perhaps by infusion of science, but they are wrong. Like most of the teachings to children, this is transmitted through example, hence the importance of getting involved in the education of road signs, analyzing them, learning for why and for what they serve a purpose, and being aware of the changes, as the rules themselves are modified with time to accommodate to current needs.
What can we do to solve this outrageous problem?
The first objective of road safety education is to protect people's lives and physical integrity. Fortunately, there are many things we can do to start transmitting road culture, and avoiding accidents. - In many schools parents' associations form part of the community. These parent associations have initiated programs that contribute to road safety education. An example of how they have developed their teaching is that every morning they make guards in certain street corners so that bikers respect the school environment. Thus, in an orderly manner, they let them pass and cross streets that are generally heavily passed through. On these situations parents are supposed to act upon on the examples they set and the actions they allow.
- Traffic regulations are almost unknown to most: A main start to the implementation of the program is to teach the youth to become acknowledgeable on road rules and regulations. This way children learn to circulate properly on the streets in co-harmony with vehicles.
- Teaching children from a very early age to distinguish road signs, identify them, understand their meaning and above all why they must be obeyed. This stage of the program can even become a playful activity, especially when parents participate.
Every day they would practice by looking at the many road signs on the streets and roads and learn what they mean and why or for what they are used for.
- A road education program must be adapted to the needs of the place where the child lives and the dangers to which he or she is exposed. The teaching of a child that lives in a city with heavy traffic should not be the same as of a child who lives in a city where traffic is almost nonexistent. With this we can avoid the misconception of general behaviors along all areas because depending on the environment and surroundings some road rules may vary.
Although there are conventions that must be accepted such as the purpose of traffic lights. For example, the color red indicates that we must stop and with the green to go on, on that same note there are other signs that have a symbolic aspect that the young child can understand and integrate into his or her knowledge. Some examples are: identifying the sign that indicates that there is a school nearby or that there may be children playing, these are signs that the young child should be empowered to learn and will enjoy identifying when he or she walks down the street.
It is possible to take advantage of the fact that many textbooks include subjects related to the traffic signs; and especially the purpose traffic lights, the preventive signs that warn that there is a school nearby or a pedestrian crossing. In many cities, recreational parks for road safety education are strategically placed for advantage of the community it is surrounded by. This is the environment the child learns willingly and is taught that compliance with the signs favors coexistence and driving safely. This program has a lot of dependence that for all parts of it comply together we must work together.
In conclusion, road safety is a topic everyone should be educated on. The effectiveness of the program proposed depends on the cooperation from both ends of the spectrum, meaning the receiving and giving end should be in concord with. The main points of the proposed program teach the following: children are the main focus of attention because they are the future of all outcomes that involve evolving into a better tomorrow, the desired outcome is the harmony of the masses on the streets and roads. Finally, and most importantly, the main goal of this program is to teach the youth that road safety education does not begin once one is of age to be driving or able to be on the road, but when they are young and can create pattern of behavior that benefit all involved on the process.
