By Jel Santos
A modular road safety park, which can be brought to cities to teach children of road discipline and safety, is being eyed by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
(Photo via MMDA)
This future project of the agency was disclosed by MMDA Chairman Danilo Lim during the relaunching of the Children’s Road Safety Park in Adriatico, Manila on Friday.
“We are looking forward to have modular road safety park which we can transfer from one city to another to cater to more kids,” he said.
The MMDA chief reiterated the salience of teaching children of following traffic rules, saying instilling discipline while they are young can make them responsible citizens.
“This is a generational approach to address some of our societal ills especially traffic problems. When kids become aware of road safety and discipline at a very young age, there are bigger chances that they can internalize what we teach them here and will carry the habit of self-discipline until they’ve been grown up,” said Lim.
MMDA said it will make learning road safety to children a fun and interactive activity.
According to Lim, MMDA is currently coordinating with the Department of Education to include road safety in the department’s curriculum for schools.
The relaunched 4600-sqm Children’s Road Safety Park in Manila, which is the first road safety park in the country, was patterned from Singapore’s Road Safety Community. It was constructed in 2012 and has miniature infrastructure like a pedestrian crossing, intersection, road signs, and replicas of building establishments like school, hospital, and church.