Nothing as yet exposes the life of children (5-14 years) to death like traffic accidents. This group of road users are the most vulnerable due to the manner they use the road and lack of caution from motorists towards their disposition in traffic. It is a given fact that schools, where children of this age go are geographically located next to major, big and dusty roads. Intermittently on their way to school children spend some time close to fast-moving cars and in every way possible can be victims of negligent driving or be authors of their own grim fate in traffic. Children never drive cars to school, but are almost always pedestrians, cyclists or even passengers. In all these circumstances their fate and safety lie at the discretion, caution and consideration of other road users, especially motorists.
Road signs, crossing points, vulnerable children
In many schools there are road signs that warn motorists of the presence of children as pedestrians crossing the road. Some of these pupils would be already walking by the side of the road ready to cross at some point in time. This should be a warning to motorists to reduce speed reasonable so as to share the road space safely with children. It confounds all when a motorist will engage the highest gear and employ the highest speed notwithstanding the signage and mandatory speed cautioning them earlier on. In such situations given the petite size of pupils, when a crash occurs, the children are critically or fatally injured. Motorists are reckless when passing schools and pre-schools where small children are in the vicinity. It cannot be denied that children also falter on the road simply because they are naïve and just children. They will intermittently jump into space where a motor vehicle is much to the perplexation of the driver. Reasonable speed can save the day and the life of the child.
In some areas, children as pupils have the privilege to catch transport to school whether they are public service passengers or are in an organised school transport. They are vulnerable there also because they are often overloaded. In the event a PSV crashes, a lot of children are adversely affected. It would be again to implore operators to look out for the safety of children and venture to pick and drop them at the safest of points on their way to and from schools. Organised transport tends to overload small children and get lots of them injured in the event an accident occurs. Residential areas are also traps where children are injured, especially during holidays or weekends when children are out their yards to play. These creatures could be dangerously riding bicycles on the township dusty streets and pouncing on the road where a motorist speeding by can ultimately fail to apply breaks. The United Nations Global Week of Road Safety in 2021 appealed to drivers to, ‘give life back to the streets’ and drive at 30km/hr around residential, business and school areas. The call still stands even today, and motorists are expected to practice total adherence to same
TAKE AWAYS
- Kill your speed or you will kill a child
- Respect the school vicinity and save the children
- Pick and drop children where it is safest
- Always be on the lookout for the errant child
- Give life back to the streets- do 30km/hr in residential areas, schools and business places.
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