Implanting traffic discipline in children with lessons from the street.

ABSTRACT

Because the development of character is more easily attained in a child than an adult, a pilot project was launched in Thailand during 1997 with the aim of inculcating traffic discipline in a group of secondary school students. The strategy was to have them witness real traffic in the streets, and the consequences of such actions, anticipating that they would vicariously learn a lesson that would be implanted permanently in their conscience, in the hope that this would help to make them more disciplined citizens when they become adult drivers. From 9 a.m. to noon daily during the period September 26 to October 28, 1997, a cohort of about 10 randomised secondary school students out of a total of 332 students aged 12 to 18 years (median age 14 years) was taken in an air-conditioned van through the streets of Muang district of Nonthaburi Province to observe traffic laws being broken and the legal action taken by an assigned team of traffic police. One or two motor-cycle policemen would take the appropriate action against the violators. Another officer who accompanied the students in the van would describe the action taking place outside, quoting the relevant regulations and penalties (fines, etc.). The students were then required to complete the information sheets they had been provided earlier. After the daily trips, each group of students prepared a summary of their observations. Both the group summary and the information sheets from individual students were to be submitted to the project organizer on the next day. Composite data in those information sheets and the summary notes acquired from 332 students were analysed and put into categeries. Correlations were then assessed in term of the variety of vehicles stopped, the age and sex of the drivers, and the type of offense and the legal action imposed. The enthusiasm of the students was judged from the written expressions in their summary notes as well as from observatory remarks by the project organiser who accompanied them on the daily trips. The results of the project are discussed with regard to the prevalence of traffic law violations, and the discretion of police in enforcing the law and levying of fines. It is not possible to draw firm conclusions from the present data; however, follow up of these particular cohorts of students in the future may provide pertinent evidence on the degree to which the students have become more disciplined as drivers. The authors observed that, despite the relatively limited action of the police involved in this project, fines of approximately 400,000 baht were levied on the traffic violators during the 32-day period in only one district of suburban Bangkok. Thus, it has been estimated that several millions of baht monthly could be made available to the government if the authorities were to energetically enforced traffic rules and additional police to tackle the problem of ubiquitous traffic violations in Bangkok and nationwide. Further, such an approach might assist in solving the problem of unemployment caused by the country’s current economic crisis.