Safe Road Poem

Sharing The Road Safely With Commercial Vehicles

Since the 1970s, the number of vehicles on Canada's roads has increased by 80 per cent. Despite this dramatic increase in traffic, the number of road fatalities has been cut by more than half.

While every province and territory is responsible for highway safety by enforcing laws and maintaining highway infrastructure, Transport Canada is improving the safety of our roads by funding upgrades to parts of the national highway system. But better roads are not the only answer to our road safety challenges. Smarter driving is needed to keep our road safety records improving. Awareness of commercial vehicles is an important part of this.

In 1999, crashes involving commercial vehicles resulted in 556 fatalities and 11,591 injuries. According to Transport Canada, drivers of passenger vehicles need to be aware that commercial vehicles often manoeuvre much differently than cars or light trucks.

Learning about how different types of commercial vehicles operate can help drivers to better anticipate the time and distance commercial vehicles require for turning, changing lanes, speeding up, slowing down, and stopping — and this can prevent accidents.

For example, large commercial vehicles — such as tractor trailers — might have two or three times more power than passenger vehicles, but they must also pull thirty to forty times more weight. Commercial vehicles may need to accelerate through as many as ten gears to reach the speed limit, and take more than twice as much time and distance as a car to stop.

Large trucks and buses also make wide turns, and may first have to move in the opposite direction (left for a right-hand turn, right for a left-hand turn) in order to negotiate some corners safely. In addition, these vehicles have large blind spots, and passenger vehicles that get too close to a turning large truck or bus may not be visible.

To make Canadian highways safer, all drivers need to exercise skill, understanding and patience. In addition to encouraging Canadians to learn safer driving habits, Transport Canada, along with the provinces and territories, is funding improvements to those parts of our national highway system that need immediate attention because of growing traffic and increased trade. These improvements, delivered through the $600 million Strategic Highway Infrastructure Program (SHIP), will result in a safer and more efficient highway system for all Canadians.

For more information on SHIP, and Government of Canada highway improvement programs in your area, visit http://www.tc.gc.ca.

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Low Scaling-Bullying Verse

What Can We Do To Reduce Bullying?

According to Family Services Canada, approximately 12% of children are bullies. Additional research confirms that bullying occurs frequently: once every seven minutes on the playground and once every twenty-five minutes in class (Craig and Pepler, 1997).

To reduce and prevent bullying, it is important to consider not only the bully and victim, but also peers, school staff, parents, and the broader community. The best approach at school is to develop a clearly stated code of behaviour with consistent follow-through.

All school staff should participate in educational sessions, together with parent and student representatives. Once adults learn to recognize problem behaviour and how to stop it, they can supervise and intervene more successfully.

Parent meetings and newsletters should address the problems of bullying. Parents need to talk to their children about bullying and look for signs of potential victimization. Communication between parents and school is essential, as parents are often the first to find out that their children are being bullied. Peers also play a critical role in the reduction of bullying. If students are taught how to intervene appropriately, or get adult assistance, and to empathise with victims and condemn aggression, bullying can be reduced.

Bullies and victims require individual attention. Bullies should be told that their behaviour is not acceptable and that they will suffer consequences established in the code of behaviour. If a group of children are being bullied, bullies and bystanders should be brought to task. Victims need to be encouraged to speak up and ensured that their school will protect them from further harassment. Parents of bullies should be informed of their children's behaviour and enlisted to discipline the behaviour and mentor their child to help prevent further occurrences of bullying or victimization.

For more information on bullying and how early childhood intervention programs are helping to reduce bullying in communities across Canada, visit the National Crime Prevention Centre Web site at www.crime-prevention.org or call toll-free 1-877-302-NCPC.

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Bullying-Dealing Ode

Tips For Parents On How To Deal With Bullying

Often a serious problem for kids...

Bullying behaviour may seem rather insignificant compared to the trouble that some kids can get into. In fact, it is often dismissed as just another part of "growing up."

It shouldn't be.

Statistics show that one in four children who bully will have a criminal record before the age of thirty. Teasing at bus stops, taking other children's lunch money, insults and threats, kicking and punching - it's all fair game to the bully. On the flip side, fear of bullies causes many kids to avoid school or carry and even use weapons for protection. While everyone is a potential bullying target, victims typically tend to be shy, sensitive, anxious, or insecure. Children are picked on for many reasons, including being overweight, being small, having a disability, or being an ethno-cultural minority.

If you suspect that one of your children is being bullied, here are some tips on what to do:
* Listen. Encourage your children to talk about school, social events, other kids in class, and the walk or ride to and from school so you can identify any problems they may be having.
* Take their complaints of bullying seriously. Probing a seemingly minor incident may uncover something more serious. Children are often afraid or ashamed to tell anyone that they have been bullied.
* Watch for symptoms of victimization such as withdrawal, a drop in grades, torn clothes, or demands for extra money.
* Tell the school or day care immediately if you think that your children are being bullied.
* Work with other parents to ensure that the children in your neighbourhood are supervised on their way to and from school.
* Don't bully your children yourself, physically or verbally. Use non-physical, consistently-enforced discipline measures. Don't ridicule, yell at, or ignore your children when they misbehave.
* Teach them the social skills they need to make friends. A confident, resourceful child who has friends is less likely to be bullied or to bully others.
* Praise kindness toward others. Show children that kindness is valued.
* Teach children ways to resolve arguments without violent words or actions. Talk about self-protection skills - how to walk confidently, to stay alert to their environment, and to stand up for themselves verbally.
* Recognize that bullies may be acting out feelings of insecurity, anger, or loneliness. If your child is a bully, try to get to the root of the problem. Seek out specific strategies you can use at home from a teacher, school counsellor, or child psychologist.

For more information on bullying and how early childhood intervention programs are helping to reduce bullying in communities across Canada, visit the National Crime Prevention Centre Web site at www.crime-prevention.org or call toll-free 1-877-302-NCPC.

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