Sanral ChekiCoast ambassadors Khuli Chana
Since 2011 the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) in collaboration with the department of basic education has been involved in influencing learner road safety behaviour through education.
In 2013 a three-year longitudinal research project was launched to determine road safety behaviour of primary school learners in rural areas adjacent to national roads.
Some of the issues raised, are:
– Lack of road signs and no sidewalks;
– Lack of pedestrian crossings;
– Gravel roads are not maintained;
– Speeding cars;
– No traffic officers visible;
– Cattle walking everywhere, even on the national roads;
– Buses that are not roadworthy transporting learners to school;
– Children not using designated areas to walk and cross the road, but choosing to walk in the road and cross anywhere;
– No road signs telling cars and trucks to slow down because there is a school nearby;
– Pedestrians crossing while intoxicated;
– Pedestrians not wearing visible clothing;
– Parents and older learners do not serve as good examples to younger learners;
– General disobeying of rules of the road; and
– Lack of visible policing.
Road safety experts will tell us that achieving safer roads is dependent on three symbiotic factors, such as education, engineering and enforcement. When one of the three is absent, the others are not able to achieve their goals. In rural areas, the lack of infrastructure and enforcement is particularly evident.
School-based road safety education has the intention to change the at-risk behaviours of young road users so that they habitually display safe behaviour in skilled and active ways.
A lot has been written about what learners need to know in relation to road safety, however, less established is a process for teaching the content.
The greatest criticism against road safety education is that it is aimed at changing children’s knowledge about the subject, but not necessarily influencing their attitudes as road users. Ultimately, the main aim of road safety education should be to change road behaviour, which implies the need for practical education and children confronted with real life road safety situations in which their decision-making and attitude towards their decisions can be observed. Current practices proven to be effective are when road safety is included in the school curriculum at all levels.
The United Nations argue that road traffic injuries are among the three leading causes of death for people between the ages of five and 44 years.
Learners do not perceive themselves as particularly vulnerable and therefore are more prone to risky behaviour.
Road safety education and training is a lifelong learning process and programmes should not only include higher-level skills as children progress from junior to senior secondary school level, but education should also contribute to the development of appropriate attitude towards aspects of road safety behaviour. In some countries, such as South Africa, road safety education forms part of the curriculum of one subject (for example Life Skills).
In other countries, such as New Zealand, road safety education is included in the school curriculum and learners are encouraged to identify local community needs as contexts for producing knowledge, and work with others to change mental models around road safety knowledge, competencies, skills, attitudes and behaviours.
Including the road safety theme in the English, science, mathematics and arts curricula in certain grades, provides more diverse, innovative and engaging ways to achieve both road safety and subject outcomes and promotes safe road use as a transversal skill.
Professor Gerda van Dijkis from the School of Social and Government Studies, North-West University.
This article has been paid for by, and its contents and photographs provided and signed off by Sanral.