Teaching kids to be safe around trucks
SCHOOLS AROUND THE COUNTRY ARE BEING encouraged to use a new teaching aid that educates children on how to be safe around trucks.
Road Transport Forum chief executive Ken Shirley believes that the new curriculum resource – developed by the New Zealand Transport Agency, with input from the Forum – should be used in as many schools as possible.
“ e Agency’s work is based on a lot of research around how children learn and what kind of teaching is e ective,” says Shirley.
Important messages within the resources include the likes of: “While you can see the truck – the truck driver may not see you.” And another: “While you think you might have time to get across the road – the truck is actually travelling faster than you think.”
Says Shirley: “ e kind of sustained exposure to an issue that this curriculum provides is the perfect vehicle to ingrain knowledge of how to be safe around trucks – and the importance of road transport to our communities.
“Teaching children to be safe around trucks is a really valuable life-lesson. e fact that NZTA can assimilate that into curriculum topics for science, maths, social studies, health and PE makes what the students learn so much more relevant to them.
“Teaching children the fundamentals of physics, by analysing the mass and speed of a truck and its potential stopping distance, is an example of how truck safety is applied through this curriculum.
“It’s also a great way to teach children about the role that trucks play in moving freight around the country, while allowing them to look into the future – their future – and explore potential new transport technologies.”
T&D