In Nordic countries road safety education is regarded as a lifelong process directed to all members of society, both young and old citizens alike. The concept of lifelong education gives framework for the school education. At school age, children reach the role of independent partners in traffic. It means that they take responsibility for their own safety. Before theschool age, parents and nurses have guided them in traffic. This presentation concentrates on traffic safety education at primary schools. In Finland, the national curriculum for the comprehensive schools states traffic safety as one of the many alternatives, which can be included in the teaching programme and in the schools' time schedules. Because the decisions whether to include traffic safety in the teaching programme or not, are made locally, and even at single schools, the topics of traffic safety are quite often left aside. Another problem is that the teachers' qualifications to take care of traffic safety education vary widely. In Finland, the fatalities in the groups of school-age children have decreased to one fourth during the last twenty years. School education is certainly one of the main factors that have contributed to this development.
Abstract