Road safety studies may be extended to all schools

Star: Road safety may be incorporated into the lessons for schoolchildren if a just-completed pilot project involving 25 schools proves to be effective.
Project head Prof Dr Radin Umar Radin Sohadi said initial observations of the project were very encouraging and hoped such a programme would be introduced nationwide.
“Looking at how the teachers were handling the project, I believe it is a success,” said Prof Radin Umar, a road safety expert who is also a Universiti Putra Malaysia deputy vice-chancellor.
He said the project, part of a UPM study in 25 schools in Pasir Mas, Kelantan, in March, was completed and was now being evaluated.
The project – which he described as a “milestone” in the country's efforts to promote road safety – required over 300 teachers to teach road safety to students during Bahasa Malaysia and English lessons.
Called the “embedded approach,” students would learn road safety behaviour such as crossing the road with adults or wearing clothes with visible colours when walking at night via classroom activities such as story telling or composition.
He said the programme, which addressed the educational aspect of road safety, would have to be carried out for between seven and 10 years before a whole generation could be imbued with the “road safety ideology.”
“Not only will these people be better drivers, they will also be more receptive to road safety campaigns and police enforcement,” he said.
“They will feel embarrassed when caught for a traffic offence, and will not conspire to break the law like signalling to on-coming vehicles to indicate a police road-block ahead.”
He said with the help of the Education Ministry's Curriculum Development and Teacher Training Divisions, teachers were able to carry out the task very effectively.
The Transport Ministry's Road Safety Department is another partner in the project.
“Some teachers were really good at getting the message across to the children,” he said, adding that he was very encouraged to see the teachers willingly taking on the programme despite their heavy workload.
Prof Radin Umar said the programme had to begin with training the teachers on various aspects of road safety.