According to “Cawangan Perangkaan Trafik, Polis Di Raja Malaysia (PDRM) Bukit Aman” there have been 178 road accidents involving school students during their journey to school or their journey back home from school in 2012. Another 288 cases involving school student happened outside of the school.
On 15 May 2014, a road safety campaign was held at SK Putra, Bangi Selangor. The campaign was in collaboration with “Jabatan Keselamatan Jalan Raya (JKJR)” to which the school invited Mr Mohd. Rusdi bin Mohd. Darus, Director of Program and Project Implementation of the Road Safety Department as the guest of honour.
JKJR has chosen SK Putra Bangi as one of the schools to participate in the campaign as the school has many students and the roadway in front of the school is quite busy. Furthermore, the campaign received support from other agencies such as JPJ, PDRM, MIROS, AADK and the Fire and Rescue department.
The safety campaign is targeting school students to create awareness about road safety among the youngsters and to make safe behaviour on the roads a part of their lifestyle.
“We hope our initiative manages to attract the young people's attention. We are not just showcasing the latest knowledge, but we are providing the complete information in a clear form for them to be able to understand,” said Mr Mohd. Rusdi bin Mohd. Darus
“According to the PDRM Bukit Aman statistic for the year 2012, the total road accidents that involved aged persons aged ten years and below were 635 and 1859 for those aged between 11 to 15 years old”, he added.
“As a school principal, the only way to continue the spirit of the campaign is to keep on reminding the students during assemblies, events, and during class for them to make it a practice in their daily life. Moreover, the teachers are playing an important role as well. They need to lead by example by using seat belts or wearing a helmet in a proper way,” said the Principal of SK Putra.
There will be more upcoming initiatives from JKJR as it is one of their priorities to educate society.