Road safety for children

Children need practical on road pedestrian and cycle training to reduce the risk of them becoming a casualty. A study called Kerbcraft has found that practical training changes children’s behaviour on and around roads. Practical pedestrian and cycle training is vital as Plymouth’s child casualty figures show that 58% of all child casualties are as pedestrians or cyclists.

Using the information provided teachers can find out how the Road Safety Team can set up our easy to use, practical training in your school.  In addition to this, teachers will find lots of resources free or for loan by viewing our Resource Guide from the documents table below. We have some useful, first class kit, including a mini-pelican crossing for use in the classroom!

Parents will also find information that can help support the efforts of teachers and the Road Safety Team including some straightforward tips on how to safely strap your child into their car seat. In addition we work in partnership with schools to develop school travel plans to encourage walking and cycling.

We have listed the information on this page to make it easier for you to find what you need:

• Green Cross Code
• Information on child car seats
• School travel plans
• Why develop a school travel plan?
• Road safety resource guide

Green Cross Code

• Think first - find a safe place to cross then stop
• Stop - stand on the pavement near the kerb
• Use your eyes and ears - look all around for traffic and listen
• Wait till it's safe to cross - if traffic is coming, let it pass, look all around again
• Look and listen again - when there's no traffic near, walk straight across the road
• Arrive alive - keep looking and listening for traffic while you cross

Child car seats

The following are straightforward tips on how to safely strap your child into their car seat.

• Your child needs to be in the correct seat for their height and weight.
• Baby seats are for babies up to 13kgs in weight (birth to nine to 12 months).
• Child car seats are for children weighing between nine and 18kgs (aged nine months to about four years).
• Booster seats or cushions are for children weighing 15 to 36kgs (aged about four to 11).
• The adult belt should not be used by children until they are over five feet tall.
• Never place a rear-facing seat near an active frontal airbag.
• Forward-facing restraints should be as far back from the airbag as possible.
• Always check the handbook if you are unsure.

Please note the law changed on 18 September 2006 with regards to child car restraints. For information on the changes please visit our child car seats page or check out the official child car seat website.

School travel plans

The mode of travel chosen for a child's journey to school is recognised as having an impact not only on their safety but their health and personal development and of course the environment in which they live.

The Government has empowered Local Authorities to assist schools in developing School Travel Plans and Safer Routes to School programmes. Together we can make a difference to the journey children make to get to and from school by making it safer, healthier, sustainable and more interesting.

Safer routes to school

The Safer Routes to School initiative aims to promote safer, more environmentally sustainable and healthier ways of getting to and from school with particular emphasis on walking and cycling. To achieve this, we need to improve conditions (both in safety and the environment) on the main walking and cycling routes to school. Schemes can include physical measure such as safer crossing points and may involve work within the school grounds.

Projects involve the investigation of school travel patterns usually carried out with the commitment to a School Travel Plan. This often identifies engineering and educational measures to improve safety and reduce car use on the route between home and school. These measures can be considered as part of a Safer Routes project and may include:

• pedestrian crossings, improved pavements
• school zones, traffic calming, parking restrictions
• cycle routes and cycle parking
• road safety education, training and publicity
• health information
• personal security advice
• School Travel Plans

A school travel plan is a document which sets out a number of practical ways to reduce the number of car trips made to a school, to encourage more walking and cycling and to improve safety on the school journey.

The travel plan aims to raise awareness among pupils and parents of the harmful effects of increasing car use on children's health, safety and independence. The travel plan process aims to win "hearts and minds" by raising awareness of the implications of travel choice and the benefits of encouraging more sustainable travel to school. The travel plan can also include proposals for physical improvements and facilities to make the journey feel safer and more pleasant for those on foot or bicycle such as 'Safer Routes to School' and 'School Zones' schemes and cycle parking facilities.

Further examples of travel initiatives include: a walking bus, 'park and stride' (parking away from the school at designated sites and walking the remainder), cycle training and permit scheme and a voluntary car lift share scheme.

Why develop a school travel plan?

By developing a travel plan, a school is demonstrating a commitment to promoting a safer, cleaner and more attractive school environment. The travel plan process provides its pupils with excellent curriculum activities in a wide range of subjects. With their health, safety and environmental messages, School Travel Plans can contribute significantly to other projects such as Health for Schools, Safe Schools and Eco-Schools. The travel plan can provide eligibility for funding from the Council and possibly other sources towards the cost of some proposals.

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