Traffic clubs for young children are useful, but at present have some problems. This paper reports research to develop an approach to address these problems, which builds on previous studies by T Rothengatter and HR van der Molen. A programme was devised to reach all children in a local community. Parents were asked to help train all children in the target age group. As volunteers were required to come into the schools at given times to take children to the roadside, it was possible to monitor exactly how many training sessions children received and the effectiveness of different amounts of training. Volunteers were also involved as actively as possible by giving them hands-on experience under the guidance of project staff. The project also aimed to assess how effectively children's traffic judgements could be improved, and the feasibility of developing such a community-based programme. The programme sought to teach young pedestrians how to: (1) recognise dangerous roadside locations where crossing should not be attempted, and the ability to find routes between locations that avoid these dangers; (2) cross safely near parked cars, where this is inevitable; and (3) cross at junctions. The project's results are presented in some detail.
Samenvatting