The aim of this study was to outline the importance of Junior Traffic Training Centres in both primary and secondary schools. This would aid the effective integration of Traffic Safety Education in the school curriculum within outcomes-based education. The primary objective of this research was to determine the ways in which Junior Traffic Training Centres at schools are instrumental in the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes of learners towards safe participation in traffic environment. This research was conducted by means of a literature study and an empirical investigation through a questionnaire and observations. Investigation focused on learners from three schools, namely Maheelo Primary School (a farm school at Hartbeesfontein), Gaenthone Secondary School (a semi-rural school in Tigane Township near Hartbeesfontein) and Phaladi Combined School situated in Ikageng Township. It was found that more emphasis should be placed on pedestrian education. Learners should be taught traffic safety from pre-school, with the help of Junior Traffic Training Centres. Ten recommendations are made in Section 7.5. These include more training in Traffic Safety Education and that focus must be placed on disadvantaged areas; that government should avail trained teachers in Traffic Safety Education; and that schools must have access to Junior Traffic Training Centres. This study is of significance to the North West Province and the South African society because each day we lose learners through road accidents. This does not only cost the government money but is also painful to all of us. This study maintains that teaching our learners road safety education could contribute towards overcoming this situation. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

The aim of this study was to outline the importance of Junior Traffic Training Centres in both primary and secondary schools. This would aid the effective integration of Traffic Safety Education in the school curriculum within outcomes-based education. The primary objective of this research was to determine the ways in which Junior Traffic Training Centres at schools are instrumental in the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes of learners towards safe participation in traffic environment. This research was conducted by means of a literature study and an empirical investigation through a questionnaire and observations. Investigation focused on learners from three schools, namely Maheelo Primary School (a farm school at Hartbeesfontein), Gaenthone Secondary School (a semi-rural school in Tigane Township near Hartbeesfontein) and Phaladi Combined School situated in Ikageng Township. It was found that more emphasis should be placed on pedestrian education. Learners should be taught traffic safety from pre-school, with the help of Junior Traffic Training Centres. Ten recommendations are made in Section 7.5. These include more training in Traffic Safety Education and that focus must be placed on disadvantaged areas; that government should avail trained teachers in Traffic Safety Education; and that schools must have access to Junior Traffic Training Centres. This study is of significance to the North West Province and the South African society because each day we lose learners through road accidents. This does not only cost the government money but is also painful to all of us. This study maintains that teaching our learners road safety education could contribute towards overcoming this situation. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

Utgångspunkten i mina arbeten om barn och trafik har varit trafiksäkerheten som ett genomgripande samhällsproblem, med barnens utsatta läge i fokus. Arbetet är uppdelat i två delar, där ett examensarbete på C-nivå, som är en översikt, utgör Del I. Del II utgörs av detta examensarbete på D-nivå och består av en empirisk undersökning om förskolebarns trafikförståelse. Syftet med föreliggande studie har varit att undersöka femåriga förskolebarns trafikförståelse utifrån tre olika aktörers perspektiv: barnens, förskolans och föräldrarnas. De frågeställningar som studerades var: vilka föreställningar som barnen har om trafik; hur barnen har tillägnat sig dessa föreställningar; hur barnen uppträder i trafiken samt hur förskolepersonalen och föräldrar arbetar med barnens trafikfostran. För att få svar på frågeställningarna genomfördes en fallstudie på en förskola där åtta barn, barnens två förskollärare samt tre föräldrar intervjuades. Dessutom observerades barnen under en trafikutflykt och deras trafikteckningar analyserades. Resultatet pekar på att förskolebarnen hade tillägnat sig såväl kunskaper som missförstånd om trafiken. Barnen uppfattade att trafik i första hand är motorfordon och vägar men såg inte sig själva som en del av trafiken. De kände till att trafiken har ett inneboende regelsystem, men förstod inte i samma utsträckning upphovet och orsaken till detsamma. Barnen visade stort intresse för trafiksignaler, men alla barn greppade inte innebörden av den gula färgen. Barnen i denna studie förstod att vägmärken har en symbolisk innebörd, där märkena med abstrakta symboler var svårast att tolka korrekt. Svårigheter med att särskilja höger och vänster framträdde också i studien. Med avseende på cykelhjälmsanvändning ansåg barnen att hjälmen endast hade till uppgift att skydda dem vid osäker cykling. Barnen hade inhämtat sina kunskaper och föreställningar från många olika, och ibland oväntade källor, huvudsakligen hemmet och förskolan. Barnens observerade vistelse i trafiken förflöt smidigt, där förskolans användning av reflexvästar och grupperingarna vid promenader framstod som invanda och användbara rutiner. Förskolans och hemmets trafikfostran genomfördes som praktisk träning i verklig trafikmiljö, företrädesvis genom promenader, bussresor och cykling. På förskolan var den vuxne en större auktoritet i trafiken än som annars är brukligt. Ibland arbetade förskolan med osynliga gränsdragningar som ett pedagogiskt verktyg för att skydda barnen i trafiken. / Traffic safety, viewed as a radical community problem, has been the starting-point in this work, with children’s vulnerable position in focus. This work is divided into two parts. Part I is an examination paper on C-level, consisting of a survey within this field. Part II consists of this examination paper on D-level, an empirical study about pre-school children’s understanding of traffic. The aim of the present work has been to study five-year-old pre-school children’s understanding of traffic, as viewed from the perspective of three different groups, the children, the pre-school teachers and the parents. The questions at issue were: the children’s conceptions of traffic and how those conceptions have been acquired, the children’s conduct in traffic, and how pre-school teachers and parents work with children’s traffic training. To answer those questions a case study was accomplished at a pre-school, where eight children, two pre-school teachers and three parents were interviewed. Moreover, I made a field study of the children during their walks in traffic and analyzed their traffic drawings. The results show that the pre-school children had acquired knowledge as well as misunderstandings about traffic. The children understood traffic as consisting of motor vehicles and roads but did not comprehend themselves as a traffic element. They knew that traffic has an inherent system of rules but did not to the same extent understand the origin or cause of those rules. The children were deeply interested in traffic lights but all children did not grasp the meaning of the yellow light. The children in my study understood that road signs have a symbolic message and road signs with abstract symbols were the most difficult to interpret correctly. Difficulties in distinguishing between right and left also appeared in the study. In regards to the use of bicycle helmets the children believed the sole purpose of the helmet was to protect them during unsteady cycling. The children had acquired their knowledge and conceptions from many different sources, mainly from the home and the pre-school. The observed traffic walks of the children passed smoothly, where the use of reflex vests and the groupings during the walks appeared to be ingrained and useful routines. The education of the pre-school and the home was carried through as practical training in the real traffic environment, preferably through walks, bus rides and cycling. In pre-school, the adult was a greater authority in the traffic situation than normally the case. Sometimes the pre-school worked with invisible delimitations as an educational tool with the purpose of protecting the children when in the traffic setting.