Some years ago the traffic commission of the Danish National Committee of the "Organisation Mondiale Education Préscolaire" decided to conduct a thorough investigation in regard to the playing habits of pre-school children and their behaviour in traffic. In this survey Viggi Kirk, to whom the task was entrusted, carefully reviewed 522 traffic accidents in which children aged from 0 to 6 years were involved in the city of Copenhagen. This number represents only those accidents brought to the notice of the police during 1958, 1959 and 1960. A sample survey, however, revealed that hospitals and nursing homes had records of three times as many accidents as the 522 of which the police were aware. In order to delineate the problem in its full dimensions, it would have been necessary to add this large number of unreported cases, plus the numerous instances of slight injuries treated at home, as well as the large number of "near accidents". In this lecture reference is made to several interesting and enlightening results and conclusions reached by Kirk. It is not possible to mention all of them. Only those findings which emphasise the necessity of road-safety education for preschool children and possible methods of teaching will be discussed. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting