In 1987 the first set of materials from the traffic education box Through Traffic (Doorgaand Verkeer) was released by the Dutch Road Safety Organisation on behalf of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works. Two additional sets were released in 1988 and 1989 to complete the box. The diffusion of the box was evaluated by the Traffic Research Centre on behalf of the Department of Safety of the same Ministry. At the start of the evaluation project the possibilities of traffic education in the lower grades of secondary schools were investigated amongst teachers. Subsequently the evaluation design was pretested and a complete evaluation plan was presented. The actual evaluation consisted of three stages parallelling the distribution of the traffic education box. In each stage goals and contents of the materials were analysed, the use and useability were investigated and learning effects were evaluated. In a first concluding report on the evaluation of Through Traffic the findings of the various parts of the evaluation project were synthesized on behalf of the Department of the Transportation and Traffic Research Division of the Ministry of Transportation and Public Works. In addition the present report focuses on traffic safety education in secondary schools in a general sense. The main question to be answered is: "What should be the contents of traffic safety education regarding the traffic safety of the pupils involved and what standards should be set for planning and giving traffic safety education?" The focus with regard to the contents according to known goal areas for traffic safety education should be on: (a) Knowledge required for adequate cognitive task performance in hazardous situations; the knowledge includes knowledge on rules as well as manoeuvring; (b) Risks and risk scenarios (perception, anticipation and reaction); and (c) Driving style (defensive riding; risk acceptation). With regard to (cognitive) information processing but also regarding processes of attitude formation and motivation, dealing with experiences is essential. Experiences not just envelop actual or future experiences but also past experiences. In dealing with these experiences the focus is on methodical principles of traffic education rather than on substantial issues. The traffic education box Through Traffic contains materials that could be used for each of the subjects mentioned above. However, not for all of these subjects the materials were found to be effective. From the evaluation of learning effects it can be concluded that traffic safety education must be designed and given systematically to show the hypothesized results. The ideal form of traffic education is one that teaches knowledge as well as attitudinal issues in recognisable form preferably given in time limited modules. If possible, the pupils should practice in real traffic situations. The ideal form is found on a minority of schools. On a lot of schools traffic education is given on an incidental (non-systematical) base. The reasons are mainly time based. In addition many schools say that they lack information on how to make traffic education plans and on selecting the proper materials. Also with the selection of materials in mind, a core curriculum on traffic safety is presented in an appendix to this report. An effort is made to incorporate the required as well as the `preferred' contents of traffic safety education in this curriculum. In addition to the contents that are required given traffic safety goals, the actual preferences for traffic educational topics in the field of secondary education are considered. Finally, the findings in this report give rise to a number of reflections on traffic education in the lower grades of secondary education. Amongst these are the place of traffic education in the time tables of schools of secondary education, the position of traffic education relative to other `disciplines' and traffic education in secondary schools as missing link between elementary school and driver course and exam. (A) For Part I, see C 2903.
Samenvatting