This contribution is about educating children and youngsters to circulate in traffic in Hungary. In the Act of 1988 on the Highway Code it was laid down that road safety education should be a part of the school. The police role in road safety education is briefly described. In the course of traffic education of children, it is a traditional approach to concentrating on pedestrian and cycle traffic. In the past few years, however, a change has taken place in the development of accidents by transport mode in Hungary, namely a growth in the accident rate involving children as car passengers. A favourable change in traffic education in school may be expected from the new National Basic Curriculum, and from the results of experimental traffic education carried out in three counties of the country. In the autumn of 1994, traffic education in school will take a new turn, according to the new curriculum. Traffic education of children should be performed first of all by teaching the behavioural rules needed in road traffic. Apart from information given on traffic, the aim is to develop right habits and adequate attitudes towards: the dangers in traffic; the faulty behaviour of other road users; and towards the limitations of the children themselves.
Abstract