Janice Cooke, age 8, of West Summerland, ,

Why is red the color for danger?

Red is the street light color which says Stop, This is the very first thing a  young person must learn before he can be trusted to walk by himself down the street or the road  Next he must know how to obey the red stop light  He must stand right there on the sidewalk until the light turns green  This green message says that it may be, dust may be, safe for him to cross  To make quite sure, he must now look up and down the street in all directions  He must, with no maybes at all, do all these things before he crosses the street, even if it seems to take forever 

Every grown‑up must have a strict test before he can get a license to drive a car  This is to make sure he knows the traffic laws  It will help to protect him and other people on the road, Andy thinks it would be a good idea for a young person to have a strict test before he goes walking around the streets  The test might even be fun  For you could prove to your parents that you have spotted all the red and green traffic lights  You also could show them that you knew exactly what to do to obey them. 

There is another good thing about such a test  There may be one little thing about traffic lights that you have not learned  There may be one little thing you have learned wrongly  Take a grownup with you on your traffic light test and he or she will soon spot this little mistake you are making  You also will get a chance to ask questions about the rules  This will help you to understand why we have these rules and help you to remember them better 

There are reasons for each one of the traffic rules  And there is also a reason why red is the danger color 

Most people find red the most vivid of all the zingy colors of the rainbow   You notice a girl's red packet before you notice a grey or a blue one, Red is the most eye‑catching color in the garden  Even Andy’s hummingbird dips into the red flowers before he samples the blues and the yellows,

A few people have an eye trouble called color blindness, They do not see colors in the same way that the rest of us do, Some of them see no colors at all and everything looks like a black and white movie  Others do not see the reds and the greens as most of us do  These people have to be especially careful about watching the traffic signals  They learn that the red light is above the green light on a traffic signal  When the top light flashes on, they stop in obedience to the danger signal,

For most of us, a bright red traffic signal is the most eye‑catching thing in the world  And when you want to warn someone of danger, you need to get his attention fast  A shout or a scream would get his attention, but it also might startle him right into trouble  So the best thing in the world to give a warning is a bright red light which he sees and then obeys,