Schoolchildren at risk even at traffic light-controlled crossings

Despite campaigning, drivers tend to forget traffic regulations

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The autumn's first school day starts in Munkkivuori Comprehensive School at 9 o'clock. Already half an hour earlier a figure wearing a neon-yellow vest can be seen guarding the pedestrian crossing at the light-controlled intersection of the Huopalahdentie and Ulvilantie roads. The figure is Anni Jukanen, a mother of a sixth-former attending the school.
      The spot is known to be dangerous. Three years ago a girl was hit and killed by a car running a red light.
      "This is the third year running that members of the parents' council are here to remind the motorists of the beginning of the school year."
      In addition to Jukanen, some other parents also take part in supervising the two main intersections near the Munkkivuori school. During the first week of school, three parents oversee traffic in both crossroads dressed in their striking, hard-to-miss vests.
      Posters before both intersections also remind drivers of the appearance of pupils.
     

Even the presence of  the guarding parents does not completely calm the congested traffic. In 30 minutes, seven drivers run the red light.
      Fortunately at least the pedestrians behave themselves and obey the lights while observing the motorists' doings before crossing the road.
      Dangerous situations are avoided.
     
Meanwhile, one bus after another races down the busy Hämeentie street in front of the Vallila Comprehensive School.
      A police car parks at the side of the street just before nine o'clock. Headmaster Taina Tervonen has requested supervision for the first week of school.
      Even the presence of the police vehicle does not keep in check some of the drivers. Between 8.30 and 9.10 in the morning, 28 vehicles cross the intersection after the light has already turned yellow, while 12 cars simply run the red light.
      The pedestrians are not that much better. Nineteen people cross the street while the light is red.
      The schoolchildren remember the traffic regulations better than the grown-ups. Tervonen explains that the pupils are reminded on the first school day not just to trust the traffic lights but always to check whether there are cars coming.
      Many of the younger pupils are accompanied by parents on their way to school.
     
The guarding of the adjacent intersection of the Hämeentie and Vellamonkatu streets has been organised through campaigns by the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare and Helsingin Sanomat.
      One of the two classrooms for the first-graders is located in an annex on Saarentie.
      "Parents often wish that their child would be situated in the class that is nearer to their home, so that the pupil would not have to cross the busy Hämeentie on the way to school", Tervonen explains.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Danger lurks at pedestrian crossings - children at risk in Helsinki (16.8.2005)

Helsingin Sanomat