The values of secondary school learners and teachers towards traffic safety and traffic safety education

Abstract

Statistics regarding traffic collisions show that thousands of road users especially adolescents die annually on South African roads. Effective and meaningful teaching of traffic safety education will contribute to equiping young road users with the relevant knowledge, appropriate skills and positive values in order to accomplish safe participation in traffic situations. In order to realise the above-mentioned , aspects of traffic safety and safety education were studied . Special attention was given to the role values play in traffic situations. In a literature study positive and negative values which play a role in traffic safety were identified. Questionnaires were compiled and distributed to teachers and learners of secondary schools in the Potchefstroom school district with the purpose of determining respectively their values towards traffic safety and traffic safety education as well as the role values play in the decision they have to make in certain traffic situations. The respondents agreed on the importance of traffic safety and traffic safety education. All the teachers agreed that traffic safety education should be introduced at school. It was also possible to identify values that play a role in the decisions one has to make during certain traffic situations. It is recommended that traffic safety education should be introduced into secondary schools either as a separate course or integrated into the different subjects and that values that play a positive role in the decisions one has to make in traffic situations, should be emphasised.