39 - Friday. September 6, 1991 ~ North Shore News Leading children the way to traffic safety WHEN YOU think about a child’s first day of school, you might have a vision of parents escorting excited kids along unfamiliar sidewalks, or picture groups of children filing across streets under the watchful eyes of crossing guards. In fact, some of the most im- portant, first lessons learned in- volve traffic safety. That's why ICBC’s traffic safety department has put together a special program called On Our Way to help children become more safety con- cious. Some of the topics include cycling, walking where there are no sidewalks, crosswalk safety and parking lot safety. B.C.’s Ministry of Education has approved the program as a resource for safety and accident prevention, and many teachers are now using it in their primary grade classrooms. One part of the program, the Traffic Safety Book, covers choosing a safe route to school and points out that the shoriest or easiest route may not be the safest. Classroom activities en- courage students to think about and discuss their route to school, as well as how to make the trip safely. The other program component is a Passport to Traffic Safety, which involves the students filling in their passports with colorful stickers which they earn for com- pleting traffic safety activities. Teachers may even take their classes on a neighborhood field trip to give youngsters « chance to practice what they’ve learned and involve parents in mapping out Ken Hardie INSURANCE CORPORATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AUTOTCOPIC the safest route between home and school. The On Our Way program is backed up by other classroom Tesources available from ICBC. These allow teachers to incor- porate seasonal activities which provide an enjoyable and stimulating approach to traffic safety. For more information about the On Our Way program, contact the ICBC traffic safety department, Room 240-151 West Esplanade, North Vancouver, V7M 3H9 or you can call 661-6651 (collect calls accepted). In the meantime, we would like to remind all motorists to take ex- tra care when approaching school zones and playgrounds. Kids will be kids, and we can never be ab- solutely sure they'll always remember their On Our Way safe- ty lessons. No anti-lock brake system on the 734 From page 29 acceleration, an abrupt downshift into second gear causes a sudden burst of power from this powerful engine. Though the 234 has four-wheel disc brakes, it doesn’t have an an- ti-lock braking system, an unusual omission in a performance car. The interior is well-equipped with such standard items as cloth-covered front reclining sport seats with a seat cushion that tilts up at the front. Curiously, the front seatbacks won’t lock into position. Round, analogue gauges including a tachometer, oil pressure gauge and coolant temperature gauge are clearly visible from the driver's seat but are rather small in diameter. Push-button heater/ventilation controls (with standard air condi- tioning), and an AM/FM radio {but not cassette player) are . ° * Ca NORTH SHORE'S NEWEST ; ¥j c08 L@TIRE .< os AUTOMOTIVE CENTRE » 3@ Watch for our , GRAND OPENING advertisement September 11 Go carts for the kids and all kinds of specials & fun for everyonelll located high in the center dash area. Power door locks and win- dows are the only extra-cost op- tions available on the Z34. Outward visibility is very good in all directions, but annoying seflections in the front windshield caused by speakers mounted on the dashtop are distracting in strong sunlight. In addition, the driver’s side visor strikes the rear- view mirror when ii is pulled down. Apart from these niggling con- cerns, the Z34 is a lot of a car for the money. My fully-equipped, 200-horsepower Z34 test car was priced under $22,000, a bargain compared to European and Japa- nese performance cars. The Chevrolet Lumina Z34 is available at Dick Irwin Chevrolet, 845 Marine Drive in North Van- couver. ° ae AUTOMOTIVES Road sign design shifting focus to higher contrasts INCREASING THE size of road signs is often not the best way to increase visibility, par- ticularly for older drivers, ac- cording to @ new report avail- able through the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA). The 3.3 million member, not-for-profit CAA reported that the most effective way road authorities can improve the visibility of highway signs is to adopt a ‘contrast sensitiv- ity’ design approach. Resear- chers found that all age groups benefit. from high contrast symbols replacing text or standard symbols. Not surpris- ingly, the research also found that the clarity of signs deteriorates for drivers of all age groups as lighting dims. ‘Aging and the Visibility of Highway Signs: A New Look Through Old Eyes’* was prepared for the AAA Founda- tion for Traffic Safety, which receives financial support from the CAA. The report, resear- ched at the University of Calgary, is a composite of three studies. The first measured the effect of lighting on visibility of signs for drivers of all ages. The second con- trasted the visibility of text signs versus standard and high-contrast symbolic signs. The third study sought to determine a procedure that could predict the visibility of a proposed sign through a special Next to McDonald’s 08638 technique catled cessing.”* The report was produced by Dr. Donald Kline, of the Uni- versity’s Vision and Aging Laboratory. Dr. Kline suggests the size of the sign may not be as important as the size of some symbol components and the spaces between them. For instance, by making the arms and torso thinner on the ‘‘Men Working” sign, drivers can see the spaces around the diagram easier and from a_ greater distance. This prevents the diagram from appearing to be a dark blob, particularly in low light settings. The safety implications of the study’s conclusions are significant. Standard symbolic signs can be interpreted at twice the distance of text signs, whereas improved symbolic signs can be interpreted at three times the distance of text signs. in addition, unilingual Canadians can all read symbol- ic signs, regardless of mother tongue. “image pro- According to CAA president Michael McNeil, ‘‘There are many advantages to improving road sign design. Bigger signs cost more to manufacture and use up more resources. They also block more of a dsiver’s view. Designing signs with higher contrast does not pres- ent these problems, and it im- proves visibility dramatically.”’ iN STOCK THAN ANY OTHER DEALER We “BES T PRICES! / VANCOUVER _ JEEP EAGLE LTD. 1577 Main St. at Terminal, Vanc. 687-5337 Your Honda In Shape For ‘The Summer When your Honda needs a little tender loviny care, don't trust your pride and joy with anything less than genuine Honda Parts & Service. © Factory trained technicians. * We fix it right the first time. ® Dollar for dollar you won’t get better value anywhere. © Open 6 days a week. Insist On Genuine P. ures KSeni Ice 75 MARINE DRIVE NORTH VANCOUVER 984-0331