It was a different yet fun learning experience for children from various schools who were among the first batches of students to visit Coimbatore’s First Traffic Park inside the Police Recruitment School (PRS) campus in Coimbatore on Wednesday.

The park was initially opened in the Texcity in 1961 but remained dormant all these years. It was given a new lease of life with nearly Rs 50 lakh funding from Honda, who along with the City Police Department has made special upgrades, including new traffic lights, cycling, free bike rides, free two wheeler training for women and Honda’s riding simulators to give a virtual learning experience for trainee riders.

Honda has funded 11 such parks in India, though this is the first such in Tamil Nadu.

According to Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, Tamil Nadu stood third in the number of road fatalities. “It is also third in the volume of vehicles that fill the road,” he informed.

Inaugurating the park, Coimbatore City Police Commissioner A Amalraj opined that such facilities could bring down accidents in the long run.

“The city has seen 1,315 accidents in2014, 1,253 accidents in 2015 and 1,377 in 2016; 285 people died in accidents in 2016 alone. More than 45 per cent of the accidents involve two wheelers, which cover 75 per cent of the total vehicle population in the city,” he informed, claiming a facility like this could make people more aware. He added that more than one lakh vehicle were registered each year in Coimbatore.

Earlier, Guleria said that the park would be managed by a special team, who will educate and inform visitors, mainly school students and also train them in riding.

Around 400 school children are expected to visit the park daily, according to the Commissioner.