North Hollywood : Lesson Puts Students on Road to Safety

Yanking the string that triggered a bellowing honk from the massive orange Caltrans truck in which she was perched, Jennifer Ruffin declared that she was learning about road safety.

More importantly, the two California Department of Transportation trucks at Monlux Elementary School were fun, she said.

“The horn is looouud ,” the 5-year-old giggled.

Ruffin was among about 100 Monlux kindergartners and preschoolers attending a road safety assembly Tuesday. The school has embarked on a safety education crusade since vandals struck the school three times in as many months, Principal Naomi Suenaka said.

With neon roadside signs reading “Road Work Ahead” and “2 Left Lanes Closed Ahead,” Caltrans workers John (Uncle Grizzly) Sturgis and Jerry (Jerry Dog) Hartz told the youngsters to always wear seat belts and to shun graffiti and litter.

The pupils were rapt with attention.

Eyeing the Caltrans truck equipped with a snowplow taller that she was, Ruffin declared, “It’s big.”

When asked what to tell his parents about driving near orange cones, 5-year-old Christopher Hermosillo blurted, “Be careful driving.”

After students crawled in the Caltrans trucks, Los Angeles Police Officer Sam Lopez gave a tour of his police cruiser.

An entire kindergarten class of children crammed into the black-and-white and heard the car’s loudspeaker in action.

Megan Mills, a 4-year-old wearing a mini white hard hat, was philosophical about the visit.

“It’s great because I like it,” Megan said. “I like the trucks and the cars and the police car and the people.”

Megan also learned a lesson about litter, she said.

“I learned that you need to pick up trash. You never throw it on the floor or the freeway. You have to put it in the trash bag,” Megan instructed. “If you put it in the trash bag, your mom will give you a treat.”