A Concerned Citizen’s Observation
I like reading what the average person has to say about school safety. Sometimes, their observations are a more worthy read than the experts’ complicated advice and ideas. I saw one such letter today, written by Allan Roney of Syracuse. In it, he talked about how he observed children ignoring safety measures:
I have noticed a problem occurring in our community. Students are not careful on their way to and from school. They walk or ride their bikes down the middle of the road. I think this problem could be easily resolved by having parents talk to their kids, having schools emphasize proper safety on the road, by students using sidewalks, and by having policemen and city ordinance enforcers watch for the problem.
Schools have a week dedicated to bike safety. However, they do not put very much emphasis on walking. Schools need to teach students to walk on the sidewalk, not in the road.
After people have learned the rules of road safety, policemen or other law enforcers should watch for bikers and walkers who are not following rules. They could talk to students’ parents. They could enforce jaywalking laws near schools. Law enforcers could charge fines when students are not following rules.
Truth be told, his observations are nothing new. I have heard and talked about these points so many times. I do agree with his point that the most important thing here is in instilling the right ideas in the minds of the children. Indeed, school officers and teachers can only do so much. It is really the parents who need to take the initiative to make sure that their children know the basic rules of road safety – whether they are in a car, on a bike, or on foot.
There was one comment to this letter – the guy was saying “Blame the parents is what every one wants to do. Parents or not it is the people that tell them that bicycles and pedestrians have the right of way no matter what. It seems that no one has told them even if you have the right of way a 2000-pound car hitting you will not be fun.”
I disagree. This kind of thinking is shortsighted and beside the point. The point is to teach kids how to be safe on the road and to show them by example. Let this be your Christmas gift to them, if nothing else.
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Posted on December 24th, 2008 by Deborah J Thomas
Filed under: News, Parents, School Safety Issues
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