"The education code specifies that the teaching of road safety rules is provided in the first and second degrees and is compulsorily part of the timetables and programs in force in public educational establishments", recalls an October 2016 circular from the Ministry of National Education to the various players in Education (rector, school directors, etc.).
“The acquisition of behaviors which allow to protect oneself from the dangers of traffic and to take into account other users of the road space remains a priority”, one can read in the letter accompanying the circular.
This is also the priority of the SXM road safety association created in 2019. Its president, Thierry Verres, has thus contacted the vice-rector, in order to carry out actions in this direction within schools in the French part. On a regular basis, Bruno Ravier, in charge of mission within the association, exposes in the school environment the risks of dangerous behavior for the drivers but also for the other road users.
This partnership was formalized last Monday with the signing of an agreement between Michel Sanz, the vice-rector, and Thierry Verres. The association will thus intervene in several classes of three levels (CE2, CM1 and CM2) in three primary schools, Aline Hanson at Sandy-Ground, Omer Arrondell and Clair Saint-Maximin in Quartier d'Orléans, including the directors and director attended the signing. "Our goal is to be able to intervene in all schools in the long term", specifies Thierry Verres, explaining that Quartier d'Orléans was chosen as a priority because it is in this district that most of the most serious accidents occur.
In total, 300 students will be “educated in road safety”. They will undergo an eight-hour training course: six of theory and two of practice. Theoretical training is provided by teachers who have educational content adapted and developed at the national level. "The two hours of practice are carried out on our road safety track *", adds the president of the association.
The training should enable young people to learn to behave as a pedestrian, a passenger in a vehicle and a “rider”, first on the handlebars of a bicycle and then of a scooter when they are older. At the end of the eight hours, the teachers will assess the students and issue them with a certificate of first road education (APER). "We thus offer an alternative to young people so that they can take the road in complete safety", he confides, convinced that, in addition to repression, prevention and information are important to change behavior.
* The track was acquired by the association thanks to funds granted by the Prefecture and the Collectivity within the framework of the City Policy.
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