A reflection on road safety

By Cai Wenjun and Dong Zhen  |   2008-6-26  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

Students from Youyou Middle School look over a photographic exhibition promoting traffic safety especially for children over the upcoming summer vacation. More in photo gallery

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TRAFFIC police will distribute 8,000 safety reflectors to transport businesses and have them installed on vehicles in suburban Jiading District as part of a new move to cut down on traffic accidents.

Traffic police have also launched a campaign to check the safety of all vehicles involved in transport and one of the first things police will be looking for is a properly attached safety reflector.

The reflectors were donated yesterday by professional manufacturer, 3M, and police will soon have them installed on transport vehicles based in Jiading District.

"The rapidly increasing traffic flow inevitably puts pressure on road safety especially at night time. As ordered by the Ministry of Public Security, we have begun a whole-scale investigation into the safety of cargo vehicles in Shanghai," Wang Meigen, deputy director of the Shanghai Traffic Police said yesterday.

At yesterday's Traffic Safety Day, nearly 1,000 middle and primary school students, including more than 600 children from migrant workers' families, spent time learning about road safety.

Pavement safety, road safety around schools, the proper installation of traffic signs and the renovation of roads with potential dangers are the leading worries of local students, according to a photographic exhibition yesterday.

About 1,000 photos from 5,000 students from eight primary and middle schools in the Pudong New Area were on show to demonstrating children's awareness of traffic safety.

"The Photovoice show is an international program to express children's perspectives on road traffic safety. Seven countries including China, United States, Canada and South Korea are covered by the program which is motivated from the grassroots," said Monica Cui, executive director of Safekids China, a non-profitable network aimed at preventing accidental injuries to children and a co-organizer of the display.