Round the World
| Published date | 01 February 1964 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X6403700215 |
| Date | 01 February 1964 |
| Subject Matter | Round the World |
Round
the
World
Items appearing in police magazines
allover the world. •
TRAFFIC INSTRUCTION
FOR
JUVENILES
Appearing in the Singapore Police Magazine, is an account of a scheme for the
improvement of Traffic Safety as it concerns Juveniles. This is the Shell Traffic
Game, in Singapore, introduced by the Traffic Police in conjunction with and
under the sponsorship of the Shell Company; and in Holland (an account of
which appears in the International Police Chronicle), the Shell Youth Traffic
School, which is a mobile unit.
In the Shell Traffic Game in Singapore, the participants are divided into two
sections, and by playing the roles of motorists, cyclists and pedestrians on a
miniature road system, school children can find out safely the causes of accidents
and learn how to avoid them. They can learn all about major and minor roads,
roundabouts, corners, traffic, lights, signs, junctions and so on. Every participant
completes a set journey as far as possible without breaking a single rule of road
safety. Traffic police supervise the playing of the game and mistakes can therefore
be corrected in the right way. The two teams play the game at the same time and
this fosters a spirit of competition which makes the game more enthusiastic and
helps to fix the attention of the children on the game.
The units of the Shell Youth Traffic School in Holland comprise a four-ton
truck with a caravan body and trailer, and in this the complete equipment of the
school is transported. This consists of miniature pedal-cars, bicycles,traffic signs,
lights, etc. made to fit the child. The mobile traffic school can be set up on a hard
surface wherever it is required. In the first instance, instruction is given byteachers
in schools which work in conjunction with the Traffic Unit and then practical
work can be undertaken with the mobile unit on a closed circuit, so that the
children are not exposed to the dangers of the road while practising. As well as
actually taking part in riding the cars and cycles, the children act as pedestrians
and critical onlookers at the road behaviour of their mobile friends. An ex-
perienced instructor is in charge of the training course and praises or criticises
the efforts
of
the children.
The schools can be permanent or temporary, depending on the conditions
prevailing, and in the winter months instruction can be given in exhibition halls or
similar places. The schools are open from Monday to Friday so that the traffic
instruction is given under the supervision of the teachers.
This Traffic school makes possible practical traffic safety instruction to school-
children, which is in the interests not only of the children themselves, but all
road-users.
WHY DO RUNAWAYS LEAVE
HOME
James A. Hildebrande is a detective assigned to the Missing Persons Unit
of the N.Y. Police Department and writes on this subject inthe Journal
of
Criminal
Law, Criminology and Police Science.
For
the purposes
of
this article, a runaway
is intended to mean a person under 18 years of age who leaves home without
parental consent and who is reported to the police as a missing person. In these
cases, the police are involved because of public concern for their safety and
not because they are guilty of crimes. In general, the runaway is a youth who has
aproblem, but in most cases he is not anti-social, though his action in running
away is an indication of possible future delinquency.
When the question is asked of parents, or persons reporting the
absence-
"Why
did the subject leave
home?"
in over 75 per cent. the cause is unknown.
Parents continually insist that there is no valid reason. To find some answer to
this problem, Mr. Hildebrande tells us that some 262 cases were studied, which
originated in six precincts located in the south-west section of Brooklyn, an
area made up in the main of middle to low income families, of German, Irish,
Italian, Jewish and Scandinavian origin.
In most cases, more than one factor was involved in this running away from
home. The problem was to determine which was the dominant one, and a
poor
home environment was found to exist in most known cases. Contrary to popular
96 February 1964
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