Road safety now part of elementary school curriculum

By Erlinda Olivia P. Tiu

Wednesday 30th of May 2012

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, May 30 (PIA) -- Road safety is now part of the elementary school curriculum, Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Assistant Secretary Dante Lantin disclosed during a press conference recently at the Leyte Park Hotel in Tacloban City.

ASEC Lantin who was in the province of Leyte on May 28 for the commemoration of the month of May as Road Safety Month, said that the integration of road safety in the school curriculum will hopefully raise the awareness and inculcate among the young children the importance of road safety and proper road etiquette.

The DOTC official cited the data from the Department of Health that says that road traffic injury is the second most common type of accidents among children ages 5 to 12, with 263 children falling victim to road crashes every day.

“Whether walking to school or riding their bike to a friend's house, children are among the most vulnerable in the road today,” Lantin said. Often times, the only thing between the school and the road is the gate, the DOTC official added.

ASec Lantin said that last year, DOTC partnered with the Department of Education and the private sector partners, in the implementation of Flash Cards Pilot Project aimed at imbibing an accident-free culture and provide greater understanding the importance of road safety by educating the children on traffic rules and regulations.

The colorful flashcards have different road scenarios, from vehicle sounds, roads and traffic signs, and behavior in walking and crossing the streets, to riding an embarking in vehicles.

It is important to empower elementary school children by giving them the needed information on road safety because it is at this early point in their lives when they are left to walk to and from school by themselves, ASEC Lantin said.

At this age, the children must be able to gauge when it is safe to cross the street based on the vehicle’s speed and traffic gaps, the official added.

Empowering children at an early age on road safety will help achieve the target of cutting the number of road accidents in half by 2020, the DOTC official concluded. (PIA 8)