That's Elmer the Safety Elephant. He's still around and today he wears a ball cap and sneakers, but that's how I remember him from the days that he was a major presence in my school. The police would regularly visit schools and teach road safety -- look both ways before you cross the street, obey traffic signals when you're riding your bike, don't play around parked cars.
We could use him these days. Drivers seem to be getting worse, but then, so are pedestrians.
I live in a rural area, and I think I'm the only one who remembers Elmer's rule for that: when there are no sidewalks, you walk facing traffic.
It seems the police remember that rule, too; in today's news, police have charged a 62-year-old woman in Sarnia, Ontario for walking on the wrong side of the road after she was struck by a pickup truck. I'm sorry she got hit, but pedestrians have to take responsibility for road safety just as drivers do, and I applaud the police for taking a stand here.
How many times have you seen parents run across the road, even though there are traffic lights nearby, with their small children in tow? How many ride their bicycles through red lights, or not bother to use hand signals? If you don't obey the rules of the road yourself, how do you expect your children are going to learn? Elmer's good, but he can't do it all on his own.
