Road Safety in school curriculum

[revharder]

hello,
i was thinking of discussing it with all t-bhpians since last few weeks.

everyday we comes to know of some bad news related to road safety, be it a car or bike or pedestrian or else!

i think the govt authorities should include a compulsory subject on Road Safety in school curriculum in senior classes, so as to make students (they are among the most vulnerable lot on road!) a bit more sober on road and not to act foolish, when they are driving and when they are pedestrian!
and include some practical virtual driving sessions in some reputed driving schools to judge their knowledge and award grades!

imho, this way the next generation of people on road will be a lot safer!

what is your opinion on this?

[Ram]

Back in 1951, the Bombay Police Traffic Dept. started a Road Safety Patrol (RSP) Scheme for schoolkids . They trained school students in road safety aspects. The kids also went through drills and parade. They were taught leadership skills and discipline (including road discipline). The idea: That the RSP school kids in turn would educate their families and classmates.

The Police Traffic Dept.'s (now called RTO) Traffic Control - Education Branch provided the free training.

In 1969, as a 12-year old student of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour High School, Chembur, Bombay, I signed up to be an "RSP". We RSP kids would wear maroon -colored woollen berets and epaulettes and a brown 3-inch wide leather belt.

The RSP movement organized zonal and final rallies at Shivaji Park and Brabourne Stadium. It was cool for us kids to be transported in police vehicles, like kid police officers. The massive annual RSP rally was at the Bombay Police Headquarters. Four winning teams at this rally would participate in the Republic Day Parade at Shivaji Park.

Burmah Shell (now called BPCL) sponsored a Road Safety Training Park at Cooperage, Bombay. Back in 1964, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's sister Smt. Vijayalaxmi Pandit was Governor of Maharashtra. She inaugurated the Road Safety Training Park. It had mini road infrastructures with working electric traffic signals, traffic sign boards, four-wheeled pedal cars, etc.

Today Mumbai's Jt. Commissioner of Police, Traffic Br. convenes the RSP committee, which has warden officers for each of Mumbai's zones. The RSP scheme works in over 500 Mumbai schools and trains over 68,000 RSP students.

Bombay's traffic discipline may not measure up to the top International standards. But as visitors testify, among all Indian metropolises it is really exemplary!
Wonder if Delhi also has such an organized effort going on.

Ram

[revharder]

Ram,
thanx for bringing out such fantastic piece of info i was unaware of!

When our authorities can launch such good practices in past, why not now?!
Delhi has no such schooling effort anywhere!
and i guess this why we are often getting the news of underaged driving / accidents and lot many young people doing unsolicited things on road while sharing it with varied variety of road-users!!

imho, we do need such a teaching from young age so that it can be injected into our little big brains at a tender age, and after growing up we donot behaves in a rowdy behaviour, atleast on road!

[goldsun]

I fully agree with you. Though many schools in do teach the basics of traffic rules, that is not enough. There are children's Parks around, which have depicted various traffic signs and their importance. More such parks would also help the cause.

[DRC]

It is genuinely a noble thought..! My full support for this. If this happens in Bangalore I would sure participate in this drive.

Recently I saw Sindhi school kids holding road safety placards in junctions and some regulating the traffic with the help of cops. This may be small step in creating awareness, but making it a part of curriculum will sure change the scene in future though not immediately.

Also need to be taught in school... general desciplene of life, like waiting in a Q to use shared services /resources, general health, ex. ill effects of spitting/urinating in public, Diff between pedestrians and jay walkers. to respect priority of a emergency services , proper use of public places and services...etc.,


: The irony is this...
When you get your drivers license it is expected by law that you know all the applicable rules/acts, though no attempt is made to educate this to the road users. It is so difficult to buy the rule book.

[noviceDriver]

Great Idea!! Fully agree with you.

Is that possible for influential T-BHP members to take initiative and push it through to the Traffic department in all the metros / cities so that this can be held regularly? I think that will be a major step in implementing this kind of idea.

[ssl2uv108]

This is a noble thought.

so many good things are/were taught in schools.
do we practise all of them?

The moot point is - how do v practically ensure that road safety is an integral aspect of driving skills & pedestrain behaviour.

[SLK]

Originally Posted by ssl2uv108

The moot point is - how do v practically ensure that road safety is an integral aspect of driving skills & pedestrain behaviour.

Make people work hard to get a license...

but again with our system that would mean undue harassment by the govt. guys.... and that instead would increase the bribe rates.

[Poseidon]

Road accidents are a leading cause of death as well as disability among India's youth.
Our country has 10-15 times as many road accidents as the developed world.
Its a no-brainer that today's schoolchildren are tomorrow's road users and nation builders. (Many of them cycle/motor to school already).
Revharder, I too strongly feel that road safety must figure in 10th std certificate curriculum.

[revharder]

Originally Posted by ssl2uv108

so many good things are/were taught in schools.
do we practise all of them?

not at all, i agree.
but the thing is that with such a knowledge working back in head, atleast one can understand the pros and cons of such a thing!

with such knowledge, one can make himself able enough to differntiate between 'seemingly harmful' / 'harmful' / 'harmless' aspects of lots of things!

don't you agree?!

[ssl2uv108]

Originally Posted by revharder

don't you agree?!

revharder,

i appreciate your thoughts on inculcating discipline thru the school curriculum part.

at the risk of offending some members, let me ask a question- is our culture of 'might is right' & 'this will never happen to me' the real reason of indiscipline?

why is it that in some countries the drivers stop when pedestrians cross the road?