It is the view of the Road Safety Team that classroom-based, theory lessons will have little effect in improving skills or change behaviour unless they are linked with practical, on-road experience.

Road accidents are the major cause of death and injury to children.

'Stepping Out Safely' is Bedfordshire County Council's own child pedestrian training programme for the 5-8 year olds.

The aim is to help parents develop their child's skills for coping with traffic on the roads.

Parents are the best people to teach their children Road Safety; after all it is with parents that they are out and about most of the time.

Parents are given a copy of 'S.O.S. (Stepping Out Safely) a parent's guide to child pedestrian training'.

The guide gives safer procedures for making young children and their parents more aware of the dangers of the road.  Young children learn best by example, so it is important parents always set good examples, as children are likely to copy them.

All children in Bedfordshire are assessed out near the road to find out what they know and understand.

The first three levels of the 'Stepping Out Safely' programme are, red for children in year R, amber for children in year 1 and green for year 2, and becomes more involved as their knowledge increases.

 

On completion of each stage of the scheme, children will receive stickers and certificates, in recognition of the achievement.

Traditionally in Britain parents appear to be very protective of their children on the road and tend to make all the decisions for them.

In countries like the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium parents actively train their children to cope with the roads.

This may account for the lower child pedestrian accident rates in these countries, despite the fact that many more children appear to use the roads unsupervised by adults.

Years 3 and 4 are given a Stepping Out Safely pack to help them cross quiet roads safely and plan a safer route to their new school.

It is the aim of the Road Safety Education, Training and Publicity Team to help parents to develop their child's skills for dealing with traffic and the roads.

For this to be successful parents need to appreciate that a child's understanding of roads and traffic is very different to that of an adult.

Children need a parent's help to learn the strategies to keep them safe on the road.