Best Way to Teach Children Road Safety Rules

You are responsible for teaching road safe­ty to your child. You can’t wait until your child is at school. By then, it might be too late. Set a good example yourself. If you jaywalk and take risks, so will your child.

Pedestrian accidents are the major cause of death among children: figures from the World Health Organization show that pedestrian accidents constitute between 35 and 50 percent of all accidental deaths of children under the age of fourteen years. Children are a vulnerable group of pedestrians, but the children between five and nine years of age are most at risk. About twice as many boys as girls are hit by cars.

You must explain to your child the dangers of traffic (and, depending on her age, you might even have to explain what “traffic” is)—about the effect that a car has when it hits a pedes­trian and about the need to stop, look, and listen for cars when crossing the road. This explanation is a very important part of road safety, but it won’t be sufficient on its own.

Give your child a basic explanation. Then go out to the street with her, in order to demonstrate that some parts of the road are better for crossing than others. Specify why (because you can see, and the traffic is less heavy) and emphasize that she should always use a pedestrian crosswalk or traffic light when getting from one side of the road to the other. Give your child first-hand experience crossing at a traffic light and at a pedestrian crossing.

While showing your child how to cross the street, ask her lots of questions. What might happen if she runs across the road without first looking for cars? When should she start to cross? What should she do if the “don’t walk” signal starts to flash when she’s half-way across? How should she cross the road if she can’t find a suitable crossing point? Encourage your child to think about road safety, and to see the purpose of it. This way, your child is more likely to be safe. Encourage her to notice traffic when she is outside with you. Your child should be able to differentiate busy roads from quiet roads, and trucks from cars. She should also know that she can be seen more easily when she wears light-colored clothing. She should realize that crossing at a place with no parked cars is safer than crossing between parked cars. Your child’s awareness will help ensure her road safety.