School traffic culture: Issues that need attention!

(Baonghean) - Educating students about traffic safety laws and fostering a traffic culture is crucial for ensuring traffic safety. Currently, this issue still faces many shortcomings in our province…

Students riding electric bicycles without helmets on Le Hong Phong Street (Vinh City). Photo: Tran Hai

Things that were seen

Around 11:30 AM on October 16th, at the gate of Le Viet Thuat High School (Vinh City), on Phong Dinh Cang Street, less than 5 minutes after the school bell rang, students rushed out, creating a chaotic crowd. Most of them arrived by bicycle or electric bike, with a few parents picking them up. The road in front of the school gate was almost completely blocked as many students stopped in the middle of the road to wait for each other, riding in groups of three or four. And most of those riding electric bikes were not wearing helmets...

At Nguyen Truong To Private High School (Vinh City), the use of motorbikes by students is quite common. Just a few dozen meters from the school gate, there are two parking areas for students run by local residents. Bicycles and electric bikes are parked outside, while motorbikes are "hidden" inside the houses. Representatives from the school administrations we contacted all affirmed, "The school strictly enforces the ban on students riding motorbikes to school and is quite reassured because no students bring motorbikes into the school's garage."

At 4:30 PM on October 16th, at the intersection of Nguyen Sy Sach and Ha Huy Tap streets, during rush hour, students from Ha Huy Tap High School (from the Phan Boi Chau - Nguyen Sy Sach side), Nguyen Truong To High School (from the Ha Huy Tap side), Phan Boi Chau Specialized High School, and Huynh Thuc Khang High School (from the Nguyen Van Cu side) were returning home. Despite the presence of three traffic police officers at the intersection, most students "casually" proceeded straight ahead or turned left when the traffic light turned red, causing many cars and motorbikes to brake suddenly. By 5 PM, the intersection was experiencing a partial traffic jam, forcing two male traffic police officers to direct traffic. While other vehicles complied, many students on bicycles ignored the rules, making the traffic police officers' job very difficult. However, no students were penalized.

Practical solutions are needed.

According to a report by the Department of Education and Training, in the first six months of 2014 alone, out of 1,542 cases of law violations by students throughout the province, 1,267 cases involved violations of the Road Traffic Law, with common offenses including: driving motorcycles when underage, driving without a motorcycle license, running red lights, reckless driving, and not wearing helmets. According to Mr. Nguyen Trong Hoan, Deputy Chief of the Office of the Department of Education and Training, the situation of students violating traffic safety laws is much more complex than the figures above, especially among high school students – an age group undergoing significant psychological and physiological changes that easily lead to traffic safety violations.

Recently, the Department of Education and Training issued a document requiring primary schools in the province to integrate traffic safety education and life skills training at least once a week, both during and outside of regular extracurricular activities. To date, many schools in the province have built model systems, organized fun activities, and created scenarios to help students better understand traffic light signals, road signs, and safe walking, crossing, and cycling skills.

Mr. Duong Xuan Hong, Principal of Nghi Phu Primary School, said: "The school implements many measures to disseminate traffic laws to teachers, students, and parents. Once a year, we organize a competition to learn about traffic safety for students; we have staff, teachers, and students sign a commitment to practice traffic safety at the beginning of the school year; we build a traffic-safe school gate..."

Dinh Bat Tuy High School (Hung Nguyen) is located near a residential area and right next to Provincial Road 558, thus posing many potential risks of traffic accidents. However, in recent years, the school has not had any cases of students being penalized for traffic safety violations or involved in traffic accidents. Mr. Le Tat Dao, the school principal, said: “The school's management board directs the Youth Union to maintain the activities of the volunteer task force in guiding and directing traffic, reminding students not to wait for each other at the school gate. Students who violate the rules are recorded, their names are notified to their class for reminders, and if they repeatedly violate the rules, their conduct grade will be lowered. The school also manages the use of electric bicycles by students and strictly prohibits students from riding motorbikes to school. Every year, the school organizes 3-4 sessions to raise awareness about traffic laws, traffic safety awareness competitions, and has students sign traffic safety pledges at the beginning of the school year; especially, we resolutely handle students who violate traffic safety laws, such as notifying parents and lowering their conduct grade...”.

However, the issue of traffic safety education in secondary schools still faces many shortcomings. Ms. Lo Thi Thu Ha, a Civic Education teacher at Le Viet Thuat High School, stated: “Currently, there is no unified curriculum on traffic safety for all three levels of education in our school. Knowledge of traffic laws is only introduced sporadically in the Civic Education subject. Every year, the school, in coordination with the police, conducts awareness campaigns on traffic safety laws, but these campaigns only focus on traffic safety regulations and not on traffic culture. Meanwhile, traffic culture is not just about strictly obeying traffic laws, but also about having a sense of community when participating in traffic and behaving courteously on the road, such as driving slowly and calmly, giving priority to the elderly and children, knowing how to apologize and thank when there is a collision... Therefore, the effectiveness of the awareness campaigns is lacking, and their impact on students is limited.” Mr. Do Van Nho, a teacher at Ha Huy Tap Primary School (Vinh City), added: “Besides the current theoretical lessons, we need to increase practical sessions so that students have the opportunity to better understand traffic safety regulations. In particular, I strongly agree with the view that showing students images of traffic violations and the consequences of traffic accidents will have a stronger impact on their awareness, thereby fostering a sense of compliance with traffic laws from the moment they start school.”

Another issue is the need for stronger coordination between schools and traffic police. According to Mr. Tran Cao Cuong, Secretary of the Youth Union of Ha Huy Tap High School, traffic police need to seriously handle these offenders, similar to cases of motorbike violations, such as temporarily impounding the vehicle, reporting the incident to the school to use as a basis for evaluating the student's conduct, or notifying parents to come and pay the fine to retrieve the vehicle... only then will it have a strong deterrent effect on students who violate the rules.

To truly establish a traffic safety culture in schools, it is necessary to strengthen propaganda and education so that students clearly understand the consequences of traffic accidents as immeasurable disasters and irreparable losses; the handling of student violations must be positive and sufficiently deterrent; parents must recognize that their children's violations are partly their fault, and thus share responsibility with the school and homeroom teachers in educating their children to avoid the dangers of traffic accidents...

Minh Quan