DAVAO City Councilor Mabel Acosta recently bared that she plans to pass an ordinance that would mandate schools to teach traffic rules and road safety regulations to elementary students.
Now when it comes to traffic rules, it is quite clear that the city still has a lot to do when it comes to disciplining some motorists and pedestrians. Some continue to double park or illegally park their cars while others continue to cross the main roads without using the pedestrian lanes or overpass.
"The idea is if they are well educated in their younger years as drivers and educators in our future ang mga estudyante na ito, natural lang sa kanila ang mag-follow ng traffic regulations, safety ordinances, and overall discipline in the streets yun sana ang gusto natin i-promote," Acosta said.
Some adults, when corrected, have the tendency to become defensive and shut down any correction being given to them. However, most of the time, children would listen to any correction given to them.
If we educate the children properly on road safety and show them the consequences when they do not follow rules, they would definitely abide.
It is also interesting to note that it would be these kids who would have the tendency to point out mistakes made by adults. Thus, adults will have to reevaluate the actions they do in front of youngsters.
As they grow up, these children would become law-abiding citizens and will help ease problems in the future.
However, the question remains if the ordinance will be sufficient and efficient enough to nurture law-abiding citizens.
The efficiency of such ordinance will now fall on the shoulders of the councilor, her team, and the education stakeholders.