A rise in traffic-related accidents involving students in Tobago has prompted the THA Division of Public Infrastructure and Transportation to launch a road safety caravan targeting primary schools.
The initiative began on Tuesday at the Scarborough RC Primary School.
Transportation Planner at the Division of Public Infrastructure and Transportation, Nadia Frank-John, told TTT News that despite the presence of pedestrian crossings and road signage around schools, there has been an uptick in accidents involving students.
“A lot of them go unreported where we have primary school children getting knocked down when they are trying to cross, or even sometimes they are on sidewalks and vehicles swerve and they don’t know how to navigate safely.”
In response, she said the Division, in collaboration with the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, is placing greater emphasis on road safety education for students.
“One of the things about children is that they don’t have a keen awareness of how fast a vehicle moves, so their safety is a bit slower in terms of navigating vehicle movement and when to cross.”
The programme is initially targeting Standard Five students, who are preparing to transition to secondary school.
Through interactive sessions, they are being taught key road safety principles.
“Know what the signs mean, know where to cross, what is a pedestrian crossway, how to cross, how do you cross when a vehicle is parked, as opposed to when vehicles are moving, how to navigate intersections.”
Ms Frank-John says the Division continues to assess roadways around schools and implement safety measures to better manage traffic.
“We are continuing to do things like reprioritising roadways, changing from two-way to one-way during school times and that kind of thing to help manage the traffic.”
The road safety caravan is currently in its pilot phase, but the Division hopes to expand it into a year-round initiative, reaching all primary schools across the island.