A park that will help schoolchildren learn traffic signs and rules

A park that will help schoolchildren learn traffic signs and rules

The Hindu

BANGALORE: Many of them are too young even to ride a moped but they can indicate a right turn or signal they are slowing down with the familiarity of an experienced driver, thanks to the Traffic Park near Bowring Institute on St. Mark's Road.

The park has been designed to teach children the basics of road safety and good driving practices.

This park was inaugurated with much fanfare to teach schoolchildren traffic rules, regulations and signals, in January 1994. But not enough has been done to popularise the park among schools.

There are footpaths, awnings over benches and the usual slides and small structures for children for flexing their muscles. But when you walk inside, you see one-ways, t-junction, y-junction, yellow lines, zebra crossings and VVIP parking. Miniature traffic signal lights are an added attraction.

The police and the Vaswani Group together developed this park at a cost of Rs. 30 lakhs. There is a beautiful fountain emitting misty droplets.

The police came up with the idea to create awareness among the public, especially children.

The aim was to reduce the rising number of accidents in and around the city.

Suiting the requirements of the police, the developer has readied this park, which not only provides entertainment to the children and lung space to daily walkers, but also educates people about the traffic signal lights.

This is the first such private-police partnership project created within 100 days. Two experienced police officers, both from the Traffic Training Institute, are available at the park throughout the day and can be approached by schools.

The police send a traffic inspector of an area to visit schools and invite them to the park.

Once the date and time are fixed, the children are taken on a "conducted tour" and explained how they can avoid accidents on roads. For several schools, it is part of their non-academic curriculum.

B.R. Venugopal and G.V. Shankar, two police personnel attached to the traffic park, said they seat the children at an open arena within the park and give them an overview of the traffic scene, explain the hand signals and how to read mandatory and cautionary signs on roads.

There are visual aids to show how violating traffic rules can cause accidents and invite fines. There are graphics showing different types of accidents and how they could have been prevented.

The children then go around for an hour getting a feel of the "road" and its users. The police would like more schools making use of the park and its facilities.