Look right, look left, look right again…
A small primary school adjacent to the N2 on the way to Plettenberg Bay received a much-needed refresher in road safety recently when a Cape Town-based company partnered with national roads agency Sanral and the Western Cape department of transport and public works’ road safety management unit to visit the school.
Innovative Transport Solutions’ (ITS) decided to run a learner road safety programme at some rural schools in the Western Cape coinciding with Transport Month in October, and among these schools was Brackenhill Primary School.
According to school principal Denis Jantjies, the school of about 40 learners needed a session like this due to its close proximity to the N2, and because learners have to cross the dangerous highway at least twice daily to and from school. “We raised the traffic safety issue with members of the police who serve on our safety committee and through them requested that a programme like this be brought to our school,” Jantjies said.
ITS director Lynne Pretorius paid a visit to the school along with Danny Cat (aka Daantjie Kat), assistant director of road safety management Lulamile Lakata, road safety officer Zamikhaya Tunywashe, officials from the local provincial road safety management’s education unit, and officials from the Knysna traffic department. Daantjie Kat was a huge success with the children and had them laughing while learning.
Lekata reminded the learners of safe road user behaviour and introduced some relevant road signs to them. He told learners to, among other things, always cross the road in a safe manner and as far as possible always hold the hands of the younger learners. Reiterating the importance of the “look right, look left and then right again before crossing the road” rule, learners were also told to walk on the right side of road so that they can see oncoming vehicles – especially along rural roads where there are no sidewalks for them to walk on, and they were taught to always Stop, Think, Observe and Proceed when they see a STOP sign.
Pretorius ended off by requesting the children to be very vigilant while crossing the N2, especially with speeding vehicles and the upcoming December holidays when road traffic increases. A goodie bag was also handed out to the learners, which included a snack pack, a reflective arm “slapper band” sponsored by Sanral, and a colouring book and crayons. The colouring book is related to road safety and signs.