“This is my mission in life. I enjoy teaching members of the community about road safety and encouraging them to take responsibility for their own safety.” These soothing words are from Bruce Peterson. An educator for the past 20 years, Peterson now teaches Grade 7 at Elridge Primary School in Eldorado Park, Johannesburg.
Every morning, Monday to Friday, Peterson and three prefects control the traffic on the busy four-lane Main Road in Mahonie Single, Extension 2. “Pedestrians should always cross the street at robots and not just run across anywhere, because this puts their lives at risk. Children learn all these careless habits from adults,” says Peterson, who took the decision to become a part of road safety and awareness because he believes it is the duty of responsible adults to ensure safety on our roads, in schools and homes.
A few members of the community have a negative attitude towards Peterson because they lack the patience to wait for a few seconds before the robots turn green to allow them the right of way, but continue to cross wherever they feel like doing so. “As long as we live, there will always be law-abiding citizens who do what is right and stubborn people who do what they know to be wrong. However, that must not make us turn into irresponsible folk. We must continue to do good and correct the wrongs in our communities. This may lead to the transformation of bad attitudes in our society.”
While people always complain about being late for work or school. Peterson who is also known as Mr Road Safety always stresses the fact that it is better to be late than to put your life at risk because of impatience.