Teaching Road Safety to pre-schoolers.

I spent most of last night going through all the mail that arrived whilst we were away on holiday. Much like this blog, it was the usual mix of junk mail and things that made me smile. And bills. In amongst all the paper was a letter addressed to PD inviting her to join the London Children’s Traffic Club (CTC). I’d never heard of the club, which promotes road safety to pre-schoolers. It turns out that Tfl have given their financial backing to the Club, so that access to the CTC, their website and the six accompanying books we will be getting as members, is entirely free to all three-year-olds living in London.

The Tfl website explains that Traffic Clubs were introduced in Scandinavia in the late 1960’s and have a proven record of reducing child-related traffic accidents in the under-12 age group. As with much of childhood education, good habits start early and last a lifetime.

You don’t have to take my word for it either: the Children’s Traffic Club website has lots of information for parents.

The Children’s Traffic Club has been set up to help parents and carers teach their 3 to 4 year old children basic road safety skills.

Did you know?

• Approximately 3090 children are killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads
  every year.
• 3 in 4 of those accidents occur whilst a child is out walking or cycling
• Research shows that child safety seats reduce the risk of fatal injury by 71 percent for infants less than one year of age and 54 percent for toddlers between the ages
  of 1 and 4.
• In 2007, 526 children were killed or seriously injured whilst travelling in vehicles. The proper use of child car restraints would have prevented or lessened the severity of these injuries
• The number of children under 12 injured in car accidents in Great Britain during 2007 fell by more than 1,000 in the first full year since the introduction of the new car seat law in September 2006.

For over 15 years the Club has worked! Parents like it because it’s easy to use and children love it because it’s fun – the best way for any child to learn.

 

The CTC website is accessible to all, with sections for professionals, parents and children. There are a dozen characters, each teaching a particular element of road safety. There is a CTC song, online activities to play and competitions to enter. It seems to me like a great resource, and I’m thrilled that we have access to it.

To find out if you have free access to your local Traffic Club, use the contact form on the  Traffic Club website or call 0870 010 4440.