Road Safety with Toddlers
From my desk I have a wonderful view out of my window. I look out onto a beautiful lilac tree and just beyond that I can see a road junction. Quite often I witness preschoolers running ahead of their parents and on a couple of occasions a few near misses when children have stepped out into the road. Thankfully no cars were passing at the time.
The purpose of this blog is to emphasise the importance of not only keeping your young children safe near roads but also starting early to teach them road safety skills which they will need when they’re older.
On the pavement
Image by senivpetro on Freepik
If your child is in a pushchair, ensure they are strapped in and keep away from the edge of the pavement.
If your child is walking either hold their hand or use reins or a wrist strap. You may well have a toddler who’s not keen on this approach - I did! But be consistent and make it clear that this is non-negotiable! As soon as they’re old enough, talk about why they must hold your hand and the importance of listening to their adult when near to a road.
When holding your child’s hand ensure you are walking between them and the road.
Encourage your child to spot driveways and entrances where vehicles may emerge.
Crossing a road
Be a good role model. Follow ‘Think, Stop, Look, Listen, Think Again’ before crossing a road.
You can demonstrate to them how to use zebra and pelican crossings.
Here are some example questions, depending on age and stage, you can practise with your little one to help them learn about road safety.
Think
Is there a crossing we can use? If not, is this a good place to cross? Can we see the traffic? Can drivers see us?
Stop
Are we standing back from the road? Are we near the kerb?
Look
Can you see any vehicles? Are you looking in all directions?
Encourage them to look right, look left, look right again. Highlight that one way streets will have traffic travelling only in one direction.
Listen
Can you hear any vehicles? Which direction is the sound coming from?
Think Again
Can we cross the road now? Are we sure we can get all the way across safely? If not, is there somewhere we can stop part way across?
Look and listen again
Emphasise the importance of repeating the looking and listening steps to ensure it’s safe before crossing.
Cross the road
Cross straight across the road, looking and listening. Never run in case we fall over and can’t get up quickly, putting ourselves into danger.
When my children were little we used to talk about why we had to be careful near roads. Expressions I used were,
“You’re small, cars are big”
“You’re soft, cars are hard, so cars can hurt you if they hit you.”
“I know you can run fast, but cars are faster”
Not just roads
It’s not just near roads, we have to think about traffic. Car parks can be a nightmare! It’s quite hard for a reversing motorist to see a small child so it’s vital you are in control of your child, especially when you’re all getting out of the car. I know it can be a juggling act, especially with two or more children, so prepare ahead how you’re going to do it!
Older Children
Looking to the future with your little one, the advice is that children under the age of 8 years should not cross a road alone. Young children aren’t reliable in judging the speed or distance of traffic, can become easily distracted, don’t appreciate the dangers, and due to their size they have difficulty seeing hazards and can not be seen easily by drivers.
It wasn’t until I started researching for this blog that I discovered scientists have shown that children need to have developed good motor and visual perceptual skills in order to cross a road safely. At around the age of 14 years these skills have finally matured so below this age heed caution. One recommendation is to teach younger children to cross the road when the gaps between vehicles are larger than we as adults would choose.
Here are links to some useful resources,
