Parow pupils get lesson on road safety

City traffic officers visited Parow East Primary on Wednesday morning to speak to the children about road safety.

The pupils learnt about which side of the vehicle they should exit from, when and how to use a pedestrian crossing, the importance of looking both ways before crossing a road and more.

“It’s a simple course, it’s the basics of road-safety education, and since most kids are in cars every day they grasp it easily,” said Kevin Jacobs, a principal inspector for Cape Town Traffic Services.

“These services are offered to all schools in the city of Cape Town, and we have a dedicated team of officers that are responsible for road safety education in the suburb where they are based. It’s part of our job.”

When children are dropped off and picked up from school, there is always traffic, and Parow East Primary principal Martina Heyns believes that road-safety education is important.

“Sometimes kids exit the car on the side where there is traffic so we had to educate them not to do this, and to use the pedestrian crossing,” she said.

“The inspectors make the lesson interactive and informative, and the kids have taken to road safety. It’s the first time this year that the course is happening, and there is a need for this road safety education, and it will continue.”

Senior traffic officer Anthea Daniels gave the lesson, reminding the Grade 2 pupils that drinking and driving is illegal, that bluetooth should be used when making a phone call, and that the first thing they should do when getting into a car is buckle up.

“Some of the kids know that it’s wrong to drink and drive, a few know about bluetooth, and most of them know to put on a seatbelt. Throwing bottles and papers out of the car is also not allowed, and now that they know these rules, we believe they will practise it,” said Mr Jacobs.