Figure 1.--This is the Scholar Patrol, the South African term forschool saftety patrols, at Laerskool Silverton during the 1970s. This was a primary school in Silvertown, a suburb of Pretoria. The boys are wearing special caps with stars and belts that give them a military appearance. Most of them are barefoot, very common at South frican schools.

Many primary schools organize school safety patrols. South Africans call them scholar patrols. This is a common approach in schools all around the world faced with traffic safety issues. The Safety Patrol Program was started by the American Automobile Association (AAA) (1920). Scholar Patrol is an important part of a school's road safety precautions. The program has several benefits. The patrols hrlp regulate traffic and alert drovers to school zomes and the children walking to school and crossing the streets. Threy also help to make the children more aware of road safety on the way to school. Boys, when they reached the sixth grade, would be screened for the proper character traits and then trained in safety and put to use. The more responsible older primary children in the 6th grade are chosen and trained to help the younger children cross the streets at intersections near the school. Originally the safety patrols were all boys in America, but in recent years girls have also become safety patrols as well. In South Africa they are stuill mostlky boys. The patrols are given special items to identify them. These items have varied over time. The most common was the shoulder straps like the ones used by American safety patrols. We note one schooll patrol which wore berets. We are not sure how common that was. Some were colored rather than all white. In recent years, brightly colored caps and safety vests have been widely adopted.

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Created: 8:02 PM 11/20/2010
Last updated: 8:03 PM 11/20/2010