Road safety education

The Road Safety Team works to enable educational establishments to put in place a comprehensive road safety education programme. A variety of road safety issues need to be taught to pupils throughout their time at school. The Road Safety Team also promotes sustainable travel on foot, by bicycle and public transport.

This links to the key targets in the Department for Educations and Skills (DfES) strategy 'Every Child Matter’s' of 'Stay Safe' and 'Be Healthy'. Therefore the road safety education and sustainable travel resources and teaching ideas have been joined up to help meet these two important objectives.

Key Stage 1

Children need to be taught the basics for crossing roads safely. The message is to stop, look and listen for traffic. Education can take place in all subjects across the curriculum. Ideas and resources can be downloaded below:

KS 1 teaching ideas and curriculum links guide [33.9KB]

Holding hands with responsible adults is also encouraged. At this age Walkwise, Plymouth's child pedestrian training programme, is suitable to build a good base of general road safety awareness.

Children should be taught about how walking or cycling to school can keep them healthy, their suggestions for increasing walking and cycling can be added to the School Travel Plan.

Key Stage 2

Children should develop a more advanced awareness of the necessity for rules on the road. This will prepare them for the move to secondary education and for later life as drivers or riders. Road safety can be delivered in all subjects across the curriculum, but with more direct links to Citizenship, Geography, English (media and moving image, texts and drama), Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE), Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Science. Ideas and resources can be downloaded below:

KS 2 teaching ideas and curriculum links guide [33.9KB]

At the end of this key stage the emphasis should be on planning a safe journey to their new secondary school. Cycle training is also most appropriate at the end of this key stage as their awareness of speed and distance is becoming more developed.

Children can help suggest ideas about how to increase walking and cycling as part of the School Travel Plan. They can play an active part in forming the plan at this age, including analysing data they have collected in any surveys.

Key Stages 3 and 4

This is the age in Plymouth where most children will become a road casualty. Two of the main causes of road related injuries to this age group are drivers going too fast or performing a negligent manoeuvre. However, a contributory factor is distraction, from chatting to friends, talking on a mobile phone, and listening to MP3 players or i-pods whilst walking or cycling along.

Education at this key stage should involve continuing to prepare the pupils for a future as responsible road users. The 17 to 25 year old age range is most likely to be killed or seriously injured in road collisions. Continuing with building on learning from key stage 2, pupils should be taught in depth about their responsibilities as pedestrians, drivers or riders. The issues of high young driver casualty statistics, peer pressure, media influences on driver behaviour, drink/drug driving and training requirements should be covered in detail. Ideas and resources can be downloaded below:

KS 3/4 teaching ideas and curriculum links guide [31.4KB]

The students can project manage the School Travel Plan at this age. They can investigate the issue in depth as part of project work in Geography or PSHE. They should play a major role in suggesting strategies that would increase walking, cycling and public transport use.

Road safety/school travel plans teaching resources catalogue [40.3KB]

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