A community approach to road safety education using practical training methods: The Drumchapel project

A solution to the time and personnel costs of practical training methods for teaching young children road safety is presented. A pilot project in Drumchapel, a suburb of Glasgow with an exceptionally high child pedestrian accident rate, used trained local volunteers to teach pedestrian skills to 3- to 7-year-old children. Over 100 volunteer trainers initially took part in half-day training courses. The chosen skills for training were: learning to identify dangerous roadside locations, and learning how to construct routes through the traffic environment that avoid them, learning how to cross safely at parked vehicles and learning to cross safely near intersections. Children were taught in groups of 2-3, with child participation maximized. 750 children received training, with 30% tested before and after training. Training substantially improved performance in all three skills, compared with untrained children. The volunteers were considered to have achieved the performance levels expected of highly qualified staff and their participation had important benefits for the whole community.