Teaching children traffic rules and creating awareness of safe road practices among them can be done in interesting and innovative ways. The Mobile Traffic Electronic Park of the State police has been driving home this message in the district.
The bus that makes up the park has been touring schools for two years with good results.
Equipped with working models on traffic lights and audiovisual equipment, the team takes a completely different approach to making the young crowd aware of the importance of traffic rules.
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With schools reopening in June, it will be a busy time for the team. This academic year’s programme will begin at the Government Higher Secondary School for Girls, Cotton Hill, on June 3. The bus will then visit schools in areas such as Pettah, Sreekaryam, Jagathy and beyond.
“We have covered 39 schools from January to April, which include both city schools and those in rural areas,” Raju Mohan of the team says.
The mobile park displays a set of photographs of the major road accidents that the State had witnessed in the recent past.
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“The students should understand the importance of following traffic rules and the consequences of not following them. Explaining the causes of each of these incidents can have a more profound influence on the children, and they will be more inclined to follow the rules,” Mr. Mohan says.
Rather than listing out the traffic rules, the team have come up with the idea of educating the children about these rules through a working model of a traffic junction indicating the proper way of vehicular traffic and signalling.
The mobile unit is equipped with a kiosk that gives information about traffic rules and safe road practices.
An LCD monitor to screen videos and interactive DVDs and colourful posters add to the elements that have been arranged in the unit.
The team has conducted a few sessions for the public, especially for autorickshaw drivers and two-wheelers riders, apart from those for schools.