KOCHI: Students lined up wearing safety jackets and helmets and by carrying traffic signboards in their hands on the roadside has become a regular scene in Thiruvananthapuram. The traffic club at St John’s School, Nalanchira, consists of a 50-member student group and coordinators to mentor the children. The traffic club was inaugurated on Friday by DIG P Prakash. The practical session takes place for 15 minutes every morning and evening on roads.
According to school headmaster Wilson George, students could only make a difference in the current traffic scenario by preventing accidents and protecting those using roads.
“Students are given awareness sessions. This generation knows all traffic rules but is not ready to follow any rules though. Here we guide them to use seat belts and wear helmets. Happy to see them taking the lessons carefully. Enforcing strict traffic rules and implementing it in the root level could make a difference in the long run,” Wilson said.
The basic traffic rules taught are to allow vehicles coming from the opposite side to pass, keep left while driving, overtake only from the right side of the road, slow down in the junctions, always use indicators while taking diversions or turns, wear helmets irrespective of where you are riding to, wear seat belts in four-wheelers, avoid using mobile phones and loud music while driving, allow pedestrians to pass, follow traffic signals. “We also teach them to spread fatal effects of drunken driving.
Students often share their stories of how their parents used to drive and how they have convinced them to wear seat belts and to use indicators,” said Sisily Chacko, traffic club coordinator. According to the city Police Commissioner P Prakash, the scheme has a twin purpose. “We are training the students to understand traffic issues and give them the training to resolve those issues. Secondly, we focus on children’s safety before and after reaching the school, which includes training to cross roads through zebra crossing, learning to understand signals and signboards,” he said.