A holiday programme at Linden Library taught children that staying safe on the road is about more than knowing when to cross; it is about understanding that every road user has a responsibility to keep one another safe.

The library’s Smart Kids, Smart Roads programme used games, storytelling, discussions and practical lessons to introduce children to important road-safety habits while encouraging them to think about their own experiences as pedestrians and passengers.

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For Linden Library, the programme was another way of showing that libraries can be places where children learn important life skills beyond the classroom and traditional library services.

Senior librarian Senzo Nkwanyana said the library has become a safe space where children can study, complete homework and participate in holiday programmes that expose them to new interests and opportunities. “Having the holiday programmes also draws children closer and helps them discover more opportunities, from careers to hobbies,” he said.

Road safety was chosen because children interact with roads every day, whether travelling in cars, walking or cycling. Nkwanyana said information from the road accident fund and Statistics South Africa showed that an average of 1 288 school-going children, aged five to 19, lose their lives annually in road crashes, highlighting the importance of giving children practical knowledge that could stay with them throughout their lives.

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The programme emphasised that roads are shared spaces used by motorists, pedestrians and cyclists, and that everyone has a role to play in preventing accidents. Rather than relying solely on lectures, the library used games and storytelling to keep the children engaged. “Stories can never be easily forgotten,” said Nkwanyana, adding that lessons shared through storytelling could be passed from one generation to another.

The children responded enthusiastically, sharing their own experiences of travelling in cars and walking as pedestrians. Some were also able to demonstrate basic safety practices, including how to wear a seatbelt and where children should sit when travelling in a vehicle. A song carrying the message ‘Seat belts save lives’ reinforced the lesson.

The programme also highlighted the importance of adult involvement in children’s road-safety education. Nkwanyana said parents and caregivers need to understand and practise road-safety rules themselves if children are expected to follow them.

The programme was developed with input from the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD), which helped the library align the content with road-safety guidelines, identify appropriate age groups and provide educational pamphlets for children. For Nkwanyana, such partnerships demonstrate the important role community institutions can play when they combine their strengths. “Collaboration allows Linden Library to combine our information dissemination role with the expertise of organisations such as JMPD,” he said.

The library hopes to make road-safety education a recurring feature of its children’s holiday programmes, while also introducing youngsters to other practical skills such as financial literacy, coding and robotics, communication and problem-solving. For other organisations hoping to run similar programmes, Nkwanyana recommends bringing traffic officials, police and emergency services into the conversation and adding practical demonstrations using toy cars, road signs and mock road layouts where children can practise crossing safely.

The ultimate lesson of Smart Kids, Smart Roads, however, is this: road safety is not only an adult responsibility. “It is a responsibility for both adult and child to obey the rules of the road,” said Nkwanyana. “Prevention is better than cure.”

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