EIGHTY YEARS OF THE KERB DRILL

1) At the kerb, Halt!

2) Eyes Right.

3) Eyes Left.

4) Eyes Right Again. Then, if the road is clear -

5) Quick March. Don’t Rush. Cross quietly.

Echoes of the Kerb Drill endured for generations - this writer can recall hearing variations when he was at infant school in the mid-1970s. But, as those rather martial instructions suggest, it was a response to the appalling traffic accident rate during the Second World War. In 1940, the government estimated there were 8,272 road fatalities, compared to 6,633 in 1937. On the 24^th September 1942, The Evening Standard reported: “A simple ‘kerb drill’ is advocated by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents”.

The aim of the ROSPA was a set of simple instructions that a very young pedestrian would find easy to remember. Pedestrian Crossings lacked black and white stripes at that time, which would not be formally introduced until November 1951. Belisha Beacons dated from 1934 but would not display a flashing light until nineteen years later. 1953 also marked the official use of school crossing patrols and the first appearance of Tufty the Road Safety Squirrel., As for pelican crossings, they would not make their bow until 1969

For many years The Kerb Drill remained as much a part of school life as the Eleven Plus and teachers who looked as though they had recently transferred from The Bash Street Kids. But there were fears it was increasingly ill-suited to the growth in post-war car ownership, and the historian Joe Moran wrote:

By the late 1960s, it was clear from a number of studies that the ‘kerb drill’ was outdated. Research now suggested that children learnt it by rote and did not always understand it and that, more damningly, those under nine could not distinguish between the kerb and the gutter, or between ‘left’ and ‘right’. (Tufty Club members were always encouraged to wear their membership badges on their right side, to remind them of this difference).

The solution was the Green Cross Code, which the government introduced in April 1971. Perhaps the Kerb Drill’s last hurrah occurred on the 12^th May 1967 when Denny Street in Kennington played host to none other than Adam West in full Batman costume. “I’m taking a holiday from crime-fighting in Gotham City”, announced the Caped Crusader. But - “No rest from danger, though, because all around us is that deadly, daily danger: Traffic!”…