Children schooled in vital road safety skills

5.03.10pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 25th Jan 2008

Schooling the young in pedestrian skills so they retain good road safety habits throughout adulthood…that's one of the key aims of Richmond Council's Safety Education Team.

Thousands of the borough's young people have already benefited from training, but the Council is keen to raise greater awareness of its safety programme. Road safety training begins at pre-school age with games and activities which simulate traffic conditions. A special safety programme called Street Feet is offered for 5 to 7 year olds, and most of the borough's primary schools are enrolled in the Staying Alive scheme for 7 to 8 year old pupils. Staying Alive is a practical roadside training course which encourages children to think about the dangers of traffic, to understand the hazards and learn to deal with them, and plan routes that make use of crossing facilities. The children work out the best strategy for dealing with potentially-dangerous situations, at junctions and near parked cars, for example.

Richmond Council's Cabinet Member for Traffic, Transport and Parking, Cllr David Trigg, said: "This training is absolutely vital and a key part of the work of our safety education team. Instilling safety skills in young children aims to equip them to deal with the roads when they eventually go out on the streets on their own, and hopefully ensures they retain good safety habits throughout adulthood."