Stop Look Wave - Volvo Trucks Road Safety Programme

AJ scoots to school, and I jog along. There are 2 major roads we have to cross every school day, and this provide ample opportunities for me to educate him on road safety.

Many children are taught in schools to raise up their hands when crossing the road, but when I surveyed a few of them if they know the reasons why they have to, they either were not told or have forgotten what was told.

Children are generally shorter than adults. When they cross the road, many bus and truck drivers may not be able to spot them because they are short. By raising their hands when they cross the road, they raise their height by about 20cm. It increases the chance of being spotted. However, I also noticed that these children, when crossing the roads, though raised up their hands, didn't raise them fully. It is usually an L-shape raise, which hardly served any purpose. Thus, it is our role as parents, to explain to them the reason for this raising of hands. 

Now, Volvo Trucks' road safety programme takes this raising of hands a step further, they encourage the children to STOP | LOOK | WAVE. This is far more effective, I believe. 

Before crossing the road, the child stops and wait for the vehicles to pull their breaks. Then the child looks to confirm these vehicles have stopped and it is safe to cross the road. Finally, the child raises his or her hand to wave at the drivers, while maintaining eye contact with the respective drivers, to get the non-verbal cue from them to allow the child to cross.

In most traffic accidents, the human factor plays a decisive role. The Stop Look Wave training programme focuses on how important it is for children to be attentive and to make eye contact with drivers. The children learn to stop, look carefully around them, and make the driver clearly aware of their presence by waving at him or her before crossing the street.

Standing at the right spot to be seen by the vehicle drivers while waiting to cross the road is important. Educate your children on blind spots on the road 

Pay attentive attention when crossing the road. Avoid doing other things on the go.

Do not take road safety for granted.

This is a wonderful initiative by Volvo Trucks. I hope parents like you could share this video with your children and further educate them on road safety measure. It is everyone' s responsibility to make the roads safer for our children. We empower our children today so that they, too, can in turn be advocates among their family and social circles.

Youtube link here