Pune: Children’s Traffic Park in Aundh: A Fun Learning Hub for Road Safety Education
Pune: Children's Traffic Park in Aundh: A Fun Learning Hub for Road Safety Education
Situated around the Bremen Chowk in Aundh, the traffic park provides fun ways for children to learn traffic rules.
16 April 2024
Even under the scorching sun, 8 year old Ratnadeepak alias Naksh eagerly waits outside the Children’s Traffic Park built in the Aundh area of Pune. He sits on the plastic chair right beside his father’s lemonade stall every day. With an outpour of zest in his voice, he illustrates how much he enjoys riding bicycles of all shapes and sizes. While giving a tour of the park, he explains everything he has learnt here.
“When the light turns red we have to stop, when the light is orange or yellow we need to wait and when it finally turns green we can move ahead,” he says. “We are supposed to cross the road from the zebra crossing and we park our cycles where there is a sign with a P on it; the single arrow means that this path is only for going one way and the other zig-zagged park is for coming back.”
The young boy’s parents, who have been setting up their lemonade stall at the same spot for 24 years, described how the street has transformed from a muddy non-metallic path to a concrete intersection and how drastically traffic conditions have changed. Aundh has only gotten busier and more prone to road accidents in recent years.
The park is a miniature version of an actual road setting with all the important signages in place, whether it be stop signs, no parking signs, traffic signals, turns, one-ways and so on. It is surrounded by huge trees on its peripheries which provide shade to all those who participate in the activities.
Natekar, who has been guarding the premises ever since it came into being, noted how the influx of kids has only gone up. He explained how private entries are usually not permitted and schools have to make bookings in advance to orchestrate road safety sessions. Teachers are usually assigned to the students, and they take up batches every day.
Talking about the tight schedule he said, “As many as three buses were being allotted in to pick up students from schools and bring them here for the session.” The price per head for government schools is Rs. 5 and that for private schools is Rs. 20.
In 2022, Pune hit a five year peak in the number of road accident deaths, making it even more crucial to imbibe road safety lessons in the minds of children and adults alike.
