Department hosts annual provincial road safety competitions

The Department of Transport and Public Works hosted the annual provincial Participatory Educational Techniques (PET) competition and a preliminary round of the provincial road safety debate competition at the Gene Louw Traffic College in Brackenfell on 30 July 2016.

Steenberg High School and Breede River High School competed in the PET competition which is aimed at changing learner attitudes towards road safety through participatory education. The five learners from these schools will now represent the Western Cape in the urban and rural categories at the national competition to be held from 3 to 8 October in Durban.

The PET project challenged learners from Grade 10 and 11 to identify road safety problems in their communities and to find research-based solutions. Competing schools were adjudicated on:

1. the quality of their models (displays), and
2. their presentations on research-based solutions to road safety problems in their communities. The teams are looking forward to compete in the national PET competition.
    

Chandré Linevee, a Grade 11 learner from Steenberg High, says they enjoyed finding possible solutions for road safety problems in their community.

“We found that traffic congestion, pedestrian and scholar safety and road traffic engineering contribute to crashes here. We know that some of these solutions are costly, and comes with challenges. However, we are confident that the inputs from adjudicators and department officials will help us to prepare for the nationals,” she said.

Bennette-Dene Kapozo, a Grade 11 learner from Breede River High, says many learners have to walk to school and that poses a hazard, as some motorists tend to speed and have no regard for traffic signals.

“We believe that our solutions provided in terms of education, enforcement and engineering will contribute to a steady reduction in injuries and crashes. We look forward to working together with traffic officers in the Worcester area, through pamphleteering and to create awareness at our school,” she said.

The Department’s road safety officers and architects will be assisting the schools in the following weeks to prepare them for the national PET competition.

• New Orleans Secondary School from Paarl and Makupula Secondary School from Stellenbosch competed in the preliminary round of the provincial road safety debate competition on the day. The competition addresses the underlying issues of road safety in society at large, and gives young people the opportunity to discuss pertinent issues affecting road safety behaviour and attitudes. More preliminary rounds are scheduled over the next few weeks, and will involve Hugenote High School (Wellington), Kayamandi Secondary School (Stellenbosch), and Diazville High School (Saldanha). The five best debaters from these schools will represent the Western Cape at the nationals.