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Barrier JHttor
MONDAY, BJSPT£MB1SU 1, 193tt
SAFETY FIRST" EDUCATION
The Department of .Education, ia
mating anaugementa to prepara
"saicty first,*'- leesons for sciiooi cuild
reu ot ali ages. The lessons, it is
staten, will ucal with trame ruics and
accidents oí all kinds, and will in
i elude a film. The subject was dis-
cussed at a meeting in Sydney last
i week of the Junior Safety council, at
|wbich delegates from the Education
Department, the Police Department,
and various organisatioas interested
j were present, lt was said at the meet-
ing that accidents among children
'were reaching alarming proportion«.
That statement no doubt refera to
traffic accidents. In this respect
Broken Hill has been very fortunate,
in spite of the local custom of walking
cn the good road in preference to using
the bad footpath-a habit indulged in
bj children as well as by adults. It is a
common sight to see school children
of both sexes and all ages walking
along the road oven whero there is a
good footpath which they can follow,
with a maximum of safety to them-
selves and a minimum of discomfort
to other road users. There is no reason
whatever why these children should
take unnecessary risks! but tho fact
remains that many of them do, pos-
sibly through ignorance of the danger,
thonghtlessness, or perhaps even
bravado.
There seems to be some difference of
opinion even in legal circles as to the
respective rights of road users, but it
is somewhat late lo argue about that
when the damage has been done. Chil-
dren should have it impressed upon
them not only that it is dangerous
to stroll or run'along the middle of tho
road, but that there is a right and a
wrong way of crossing the road, and
that it is advisable to look both ways
before crossing. There is no need, to
load them up with a lot of instruc-
tions about conditions which do not
exist in Broken Hill, hut there is every
need for a coaching in the elementary
principles of safety first, not only in
regard io traffic, but other matters
as well. If that instruction is to be
given, it should not be left to school
teachers alone to impart at more or less
irregular intervals, but should form part
of the parents* dutv, as it is their re-
sponsibility. The time of the school
teachers is fully taken up already.
Aa regards traffic accidents to chil-
dren, the onus for avoiding them falls
largely on the motorist or other per-
son in charge of a vehicle, and _ as a
clasR they are fully alive to their re-
sponsibilities in this respect. The
R.N.M.A. in conjunction with munici-
pal councils and other bodies has done
excellent work in forwarding road
safety by erecting distinctive warning
signs near schools and there is no
excuse for drivel * of fast moving
vehicles pleading ignorance if an acci-
dent should happen. But it does not
folio«- that they should take all the
responsibility for making the roads
safe for children. The departmental
campaign will open with the formation
of safety-first councils in the schools,
rules for which are to be drawn up.
It is not clear whether these councils
are to be confined to public schools or
whether they will be extended to pri-
vate and denominational schools as
well, but no doubt the authorities of
those other schools will be prepared
to join in a movement with such worthy
objects even if there is no compulsion
on them to do so. The protection of
child life is not a matter of creed or
class, but one which vitally concerns
the whole community. Ju some schools
instruction of this kind is already
being given to a greater or less ex-
tent. That is all to the good. At the
same time, the tendency to "loaf" on
the school teacher for the performance
of the duties of parents is increasing
more and more, and it ia interfering
more and more with the work foi which
schools exist.
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