Fact Sheet 7 - Safer Road Users - Children, schools and road safety

Road user education needs to commence in children’s formative years and to be ongoing thereafter. There should be community-wide recognition of this.

In Queensland during 2008 there were 20 child road user (aged 16 years and younger) fatalities as a result of crashes, which represented 6.1% of the Queensland road toll (Data Analysis Unit 2009). This was six fatalities (or 23.1%) fewer than in 2007, and seven fatalities (or 24.8%) fewer than the previous five-year average (Data Analysis Unit 2009).

While this performance is an improvement, more still needs to be done to protect children on our roads.

As road safety education is a lifelong learning process that does not begin or end at school, members of the community (and parents in particular) need to teach children about road safety and set good examples early in their lives (Department for Transport 2007).

Both parents and schools play an important role in developing responsible attitudes and hazard appreciation skills in children towards the use of the road and traffic environment as pedestrians, cyclists, car passengers and in the later stages of school as drivers.

However, the RACQ believes that there has been a poor level of awareness and/or utilisation by schools of existing road safety information and educational resources and the delivery of road safety education in schools appears to have been inconsistent in method and content, with decisions left to individual teachers or individual schools.

In response to this, and in recognition of the need to provide comprehensive and consistent road safety education resources in schools, the RACQ created its own Road Safety Education team in 2007.

The Club’s Road Safety Education team has developed and delivers a comprehensive primary school road safety program entitled Streets Ahead, which aims to deliver road safety information to Queensland school children in an interesting, engaging and consistent manner.

International research suggests that road safety education should be based on sound educational practice with an emphasis on problem-solving and practical skills training, and that it should be an ongoing programme not a one-off activity (Department for Transport 2007).

Streets Ahead reflects this, comprising four age level-appropriate presentations covering road safety themes including passenger, pedestrian and bicycle safety. The program assists teachers in integrating road safety across the curriculum through pre- and post-presentation activities.

The Streets Ahead program has been very well received and, in 2009, the RACQ’s Road Safety Education team has been expanded to deliver the program to more students across Queensland.

RACQ also supports road safety education in schools through sponsorship of Docudramas in secondary schools and the Queensland Road Safety Awards, co-sponsored and organised with CARRS-Q.

As there is already a number of road safety programs available for secondary school (especially senior/year 11 and 12) students in Queensland, the RACQ believes that there is a need for government coordination of these programs to ensure that consistent and appropriate messages are presented to students.

"School journeys are an important part of a child’s environment, and should be designed so that the whole journey to and from school can be secure and safe" (Green 2008, p26). RACQ members have identified that better access, pick-up and drop off zones and enforcement around school zones would greatly assist in improving school journey safety, as would educating parents/carers about their responsibilities and the risks in school zones.

Priorities: Children, schools and road safety

1. Encourage parents to play a role in teaching children about road safety outside of school and educate them as to the risks and responsibilities of road users around school zones.
   
   
2. Foster a uniform and coordinated ‘whole of government’ approach to the development and delivery of road safety at all levels of the school curriculum involving partnerships between parents and carers, school communities, government agencies and other relevant stakeholders.
   
   
3. Increase awareness and promote the use of existing road safety resources among individual schools and their teachers by providing better access to information and materials.
   
   
4. Improved government support for the development and delivery of road safety education programs for school children.
   
   
5. Ensure that school road safety educational programs are developed and evaluated using Austroads’ School Road Safety Education Checklist to reflect best practice.
   
   
6. Provide better access/off-road/designed pick-up/drop-off/loading zones around schools, better police presence and enforcement of road rules around schools and installation of flashing lights in school zones at times of operation.

References

Data Analysis Unit 2009, Personal Correspondence to RACQ, 03/06/09, Queensland Transport, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Department for Transport 2007, Dft child road safety strategy 2007, Department for Transport (UK), Web Document, Accessed 10/02/09: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/child/childrdsafetystrategy2007?page=5

Green, M. 2008, ‘Smarter and Safer School Buses – Unique Initiative on Trips by School Transport’ from Green, M. (Ed), Nordic Road and Transport Research No. 2 2008, VTI, Linköping, Sweden.

Contact

For more information contact RACQ Traffic and Safety on 1300 853 658 or 07 3872 8925, or email traffic@racq.com.au.