Secondary school teachers were asked to rate 14 topics which might be considered as 'important' for curriculum development in traffic education. It was found that most of the topics were thought to be of considerable importance for curriculum development for children of the ages 11 to 18. The topics classed as 'important' by 73 per cent of the teachers holding different positions in the schools referred to 'language of the road', 'putting the highway code into practice', 'road accidents', 'driver fitness and accidents', 'road user behaviour in difficult conditions', 'vehicle fitness and accidents', 'vehicle limitations', 'action in emergency', 'legal aspects of vehicle ownership and use', 'motives and problems of road users' and 'responsibilities and problems of vehicle ownership'. The topics assessed to be 'of no importance' were 'the influence of the media upon young road users', 'advantages of various forms of both public and private transport' and 'development of vehicles and transport systems'. The information provided by these teachers is being used for curriculum development work in traffic education for secondary schools by the University of Reading. (Author/publisher)
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