ROAD SAFETY

ROAD SAFETY Having throughout the years, prioritised the importance of following road rules and practising safe habits within our school by performing road duties that ensure that parents and students abide by the rules of the road when parking and crossing the road, we recognised the value of all persons on the road and viewed the Your Ideas Your Initiatives project as the perfect platform to make a difference, in terms of road safety, in the greater community.

PLANNING The first step was brainstorming. With a multitude of ideas to begin with, we eventually decided to focus on three main areas that have proved to be the most problematic. Namely: road rules ( which included educating school children about crossing the road), keeping safe in your surroundings as well as getting drivers on board with implementing road safety awareness. We also decided to split our project into two for primary schools and high schools. This would be more effective as the degrees at which these two groups experience these problems would be different.

SURVEY SENT TO LOCAL PRIMARY AND HIGH SCHOOLS

SURVEY RESULTS: PRIMARY SCHOOL SURVEY After sending out our primary and high school surveys, the primary schools were quick to reply. We sent the primary school survey with a 5km radius and out of six schools, four of them replied. The results were as follows: In the first question, we asked the schools to rate how problematic road safety was in their schools. 50% rated this a five on a scale of 1 (not problematic) to 5 (very problematic). The other 50% replied that it was under control, rating this matter a 2 on a scale of 1 to 5. 2. In the second question, we asked how educated their students were about road safety. 3 out of 4 Schools replied that their students were quite educated about road safety. 3. In the third question, we asked which issue regarding road safety was the most relevant to them. Two out of the four schools replied that road rules was the most common issue in their schools and the other two schools chose interaction with strangers as well as getting parents on board. 4. In the fourth question, we asked whether they would like the community to help them solve these Problems. 3 out of 4 schools requested for community involvement.

SURVEY RESULTS: HIGH SCHOOL SURVEY 5. In the fifth and last question, we asked who should be addressed in regarding the issues they raised. 4 out of the 4 schools replied that both drivers and learners should be addressed. HIGH SCHOOL SURVEY Unfortunately, we only received one reply out of the six surveys we sent to the high schools. This shows how lightly the importance of road safety is taken. This only motivated us to work harder at instilling road safety.

DATA COLLECTED FROM ARRIVE ALIVE WEBSITE TO DRAFT OPEN LETTER TO THE NEWSPAPERS - AIMED AT DRIVERS. The most contributing factors to pedestrian fatalities in South Africa include: Reckless drivers. This includes drivers who are intoxicated and impaired with alcohol or drugs. Pedestrians ignoring or disobeying traffic light signals Pedestrians walking on the road instead of the pavement, often on the left side of the road where they cannot see approaching traffic Motorists driving at very high speed. This information, combined with the fact that learners from schools near us have been victims of pedestrian fatalities in recent years prompted us to take action.

OPEN LETTER POSTED ON OUR DGHS INSTAGRAM PAGE

At the time of publication of this project, the open letter has been published in the Berea Mail and has also been submitted to Kwa-Zulu Natal provincial newspaper, The Sunday Tribune, for consideration. We are waiting (and hoping) to see it published in an upcoming edition.

PRODUCTION OF VIDEOS Since the team decided to focus on school children, we went onto splitting into different groups for set age groups : Grades 1-3, 4-7 and high school. Therefore ideas for each video were in the interests of the target audience. Grade 1-3 This videos features children learning how to cross the road safely as well as informing them about traffic lights and how they work. Grade 4-7 This video emphasises the significance of crossing the road correctly and constantly being aware of your surroundings and making the correct decisions to aid your personal safety. High School This video highlights the importance of walking in groups, crossing the road correctly as well as being aware of your surroundings. It follows a learner throughout the day as they encounter situations in which it is important for them to be wary and remember good road habits. All our videos were shot in areas around the local community.

MOVIE MAKING IN PROGRESS

RCL REPRESENTATIVES ON ROAD DUTY RCL representatives have been doing road duties over the years. The purpose of this is to ensure the safety of the students when on the road, outside of school. This has been successful due to the cooperation of both students and parents (drivers).

A VOTE OF THANKS We would like to thank: Berea Mail for publishing our open letter Local primary and high schools for participating in our surveys The Public Relations Service Committee of Durban Girls’ High School for their assistance in publicising our road safety project The community of Glenwood for cooperating and appreciating our attempts in making our community a safer place