Fun fact: years before ‘Star Wars’ burst onto our screens in 1977, British weightlifting champion David Prowse (AKA Darth Vader) played a different role: the costumed superhero character ‘Green Cross Man’. He appeared in a series of public information films to promote pedestrian road safety, with a particular emphasis on children. He’d ‘teleport’ to the side of the road and declare: “I won’t be there when YOU cross the road, so always use the Green Cross Code.”

Not quite Shakespeare, but you get the message.

Stop, Look, Listen, Think
Which my friends and I did. The “stop, look, listen, think” Green Cross Code was drilled into us from a young age and I was able to confidently walk to school from about the age of nine. It was a twenty-minute journey involving, if memory serves correctly, two road crossings. I was happy to do this; it inculcated in me a sense of independence. Besides, at the time it was commonplace for children in England to walk or cycle to school; in fact, I barely remember anyone arriving by car. (With the exception of sixth formers who were keen to flaunt their newly-acquired driving licences, but that’s a whole other story.)

Encouraging children to walk to school is becoming an increasingly distant memory where I grew up. As anyone who lives close to a school there will attest, twice a day traffic is brought to a standstill as parents jostle for parking spots to collect their offspring, while the debate rages on about helicopter parenting.

But not in the Saanenland. No wonder you see children confidently making their way to school, square packs strapped to their backs. Because here walking to school is encouraged and supported.

Enthusiastic confidence
You know it’s the start of the academic year when road signs spring up warning drivers to be extra vigilant at road crossings. But the attention to this topic goes far deeper as we learned when our children were in the local school system.

They were given lessons – yes, lessons – in how to cross the road. The teachers would take them out to an actual pedestrian crossing, explain about road safety and have them actually practice crossing the road. As in learning the full process. The stopping, the looking up and down the road for traffic, the waiting for cars to stop before crossing and the raising a hand in thanks to the driver.

The really young children were also given a fluorescent ‘V’ to drape around their necks and our youngest child loved putting it on to run errands like collecting the Sunday morning croissants from the local bakery.

Stop, Look, Listen, Think
But I wonder whether the UK can also show Switzerland a thing or two about road safety training?

Not so long ago I was surprised to learn that David Prowse, then 80-years old and retired from Darth Vader duties, had reprised his role as the Green Cross Man. Yes, he was back with a new road safety campaign and once again targeting the same children he’d helped in the 70s/80s. But now with a new safety message for them as grown-ups: warning about the dangers of mobile phones and headphones when crossing the road.

I bet he was pleased that the costume was still a good fit.

ANNA CHARLES