Akbar concerned about children seen jaywalking across our roads with earphones on

Education Minister Rosy Akbar has raised concerns whereby children have been seen jaywalking across our roads with earphones on and barely paying attention to oncoming traffic and their surroundings.

While speaking during the launch of the VIA - Road Safety Education Program Akbar says there have been reports of children crossing the roads at night, unsupervised and wearing dark clothing, becoming almost invisible to drivers.

She says this needs to change.

Akbar stated that unfortunately there have been many cases where children have been involved in road incidents, often ending in fatalities adding that too many times, they have come across situations where our young ones have shown a blatant disregard for road rules.

She says they cannot take the safety of our children on the road for granted and through this program, they will empower the young ones, by first teaching them about why their risky behaviour can lead to, then showing them how they can avoid traffic-related injuries.

Akbar adds they need them to understand the benefit of safe behaviour on the road - it is to protect their lives.

She also reminded parents that they are their children’s first and primary educators and she urged parents to take up a more active role in teaching their children the importance of road safety, and to always ensure their children are supervised when travelling, if possible.

The Ministry of Education has joined with the Land Transport Authority of Fiji, the Fiji Police Force and Total (Fiji) Pte Limited to embark on the new road safety education initiative.