This paper presents results from four studies on traffic training in the home and in the pre-school centre. The main aim was to assess the relation between parental training and accidents reports, and to identify, if possible, factors contributing to this relationship. The first two studies involved parental questionnaires on traffic education in the home, the child's zone of free movement and traffic-related accidents. Both studies showed that rate of accidents increased with training, and outdoor training in particular. A high accident rate was also found for children who used the bicycle as a means of transportation between home and pre-school/school. In the third study, 10 pre-school teachers from different centres who were responsible for the traffic education at the centre, were interviewed regarding goals for traffic education. It was possible to identify two distinctively different goals: emphasis on cautiousness versus emphasis on independence. The implication of the first goal is that the children should learn to be cautious in traffic, whereas the second one implies that children should learn the skills necessary for coping with traffic. The cautiousness goal dominated in traffic calm areas and the independence goal in traffic intensive areas. The fourth study, a small parental questionnaire, roughly identified the same parental goals and it was found that the independence (or traffic skills) goal was coupled to a large zone of free movement, whereas the cautiousness goal was related to small zones of free movement. The results demonstrate the importance of investigating the education that spontaneously takes place in the homes and its effects on traffic accidents. (A)
Abstract