Watch out for children!

Holidays are coming to an end, and this means that from tomorrow on, there will be more children at pedestrian crossings. They are particularly vulnerable, often distracted and inattentive after the holidays, they may not notice an approaching car. Therefore, drivers should be extremely careful, especially in the vicinity of schools, and not just on September 1-st but all year round!

Stop before crossing
Pedestrian crossings, by definition, are places that allow pedestrians to walk safely to the other side of the street. Therefore, they are most often seen in build-up areas, near places such as schools, offices, hospitals and shops. While approaching the crossing, every driver should reduce speed, not mentioning the fact that he/she must stop before the crossing, if he/she sees people approaching. Unfortunately, in Poland many drivers do not have such a habit, so the pedestrian crossing the road should also observe if he/she is not walking under wheels of the speeding car.



Set an example to a child
In order to make a child as a road user safer, parents should teach him/her how to cross the road properly. Children usually learn from their parents, so its important to make a parent a model for a child, to create appropriate behaviour patterns and consequently preserve them at every occasion. Teaching of proper crossing the road is similar. You should explain to a child the basic rules of behaviour on pedestrian crossing. First of all, before crossing we should stop, look around, first look on the left, then on the right and left again, if vehicle is not coming, walk the road stride, but never run up.

Visibility on the road
Child’s safety also depends on whether he/she will be properly visible on the road. In order to make a child safe, it is worth to equip him/her with reflective vest thanks to which they will be visible from a distance, not only in cloudy weather or after dark but all year round, especially when he/she is crossing the street on the way to school. In Western Europe, reflective vests are given to children at the beginning of the year by municipal police in every city, as is the matter is in the field in the case of training children as to their behaviour on the road. It is a pity, that what is a standard on the West, in Poland is still unreachable!