November 2021 Parenta Magazine

Road Safety Week
“We want a world where everyone is free to move in a safe and healthy way, every day. We work
to stop road deaths and injuries, support people affected by road crashes and campaign for safe
and healthy mobility for all.” - Brake website
This is a vision of the world from Brake, the
national charity who promote road safety,
campaign for safer roads, and look after
those who have been adversely affected
by accidents on the road.
Every 20 minutes, someone is killed or
seriously injured on UK roads. Alarmingly,
road crashes are the leading cause of
the death of children and young people
worldwide, and in the UK, more than six
children under the age of 15 are killed
or seriously injured on roads every day,
mainly while walking or cycling. These
events are preventable with proper
education and a change in our behaviour
and attitude towards road safety. (Statistics
from Brake website).
Road Safety Week is the UK’s biggest
road safety campaign and each year,
millions of us heed the call and try
to raise awareness about the issues
and campaign for safer roads either
nationally or locally in our own areas. It is
coordinated annually by Brake, and this
year, the week runs from the 15th to the
21st November and actively encourages
schools, nurseries and childminders to get
involved in the events and educate our
children about road safety. The theme for
2021 is Road Safety Heroes, which aims to
celebrate the heroic work of all road safety
professionals, thanking them for their
efforts and acknowledging the important
part they play in keeping us all safe. There
are a lot of people involved in road safety
and it isn’t just the obvious ones such as
the police, fire and ambulance crews who
attend accidents. There are many unsung
heroes up and down the country who help
too: from the crossing guards who assist
near school crossings, the people who
design our roads in the first place, to those
who keep watch over us from traffic control
observation centres, and the people who
clear up and fix the roads in the event
of an accident. Each one is doing their
bit to keep us safer and helping us take
responsibility for own safety and that of
other people.
Road safety for early years
It’s never too early to start teaching
our children about road safety and the
organisers of Road Safety Week have
come up with some specific resources
and advice especially for early years
educators which help make the topic
fun and exciting. They are mindful that
when it comes to talking about road
safety for this age group, they need to
get the messages across without scaring
children, so the content has to be sensitive
and age-appropriate. To this end, they
have produced a short video about Road
Safety Heroes which is tailored towards
early years and KS1 children, and a
number of different resources which can
be downloaded from their website after
signing up. These include things like:
• A Road Safety Heroes card game with
simple matching and counting games
to introduce these heroes
• Fact sheets to help you talk about the
different people who are Road Safety
Heroes
• Lesson plans for English/PSHE/
Citizenship and Art
• An assembly presentation with
ideas of how to run a Road Safety
Heroes awards ceremony at your
school or setting (you can purchase
special stickers and certificates on the
website)
• Posters, colouring and activity sheets
• Postcards to colour and send home to
parents
• A recipe for traffic light biscuits
You can access these at a dedicated part
of the Brake website called Zebras so you
won’t be stuck for ideas or resources.
Brake has identified the key messages to
get across to early years children, which
are:
1. Always hold hands with a grown-up
when walking near roads
2. Always cross roads at safe places and
hold a grown-up’s hand
3. Always sit in a child seat when
travelling by car
The best way to teach these messages is
through play, modelling good behaviours
and using the 5 senses to help children
remember the messages, so using songs,
role-plays, rhymes, stories and actions
are all good kinaesthetic learning styles to
adopt at this age.
Remember to educate your staff
too
As early years practitioners, it is also vital
that you ensure your staff are fully aware of
their safeguarding responsibilities when it
comes to road safety and that you always
have adequate staff: children ratios when
walking outside of your setting. This is
where risk assessments come in and you
should make sure that you have conducted
robust risk assessments and planned your
routes carefully whenever you take children
out on the road. Being prepared and
leading by example is important and there
are a number of risk-reducing actions you
can take when walking or cycling including:
1. Wearing high visibility jackets
2. Wearing cycling helmets when on
scooters or bikes
3. Staying on footpaths and using the
safest routes even if they are longer
(e.g. underpasses and bridges)
4. Finding a safe place to cross (Pelican
crossing, zebra/pedestrian crossing)
5. Stopping and waiting until it is safe to
cross a road
6. Looking and listening out for traffic
each way before crossing
Other ways to get involved in
Road Safety Week
• Invite a road safety expert into your
setting to give a talk
• Hold a Road ‘Safe-Tea’ Day by inviting
people to your setting for tea and
cake or a coffee morning. You can
raise money for Brake or use it to raise
awareness of road safety issues in
your area
• Fundraise for Brake to help people
adversely affected by road traffic
accidents
• Hold a dressing up day encouraging
everyone to dress up as their favourite
Road Safety Superhero
• Campaign for better road safety in
your area by writing to your MP or local
councillor
Road safety matters, and by engaging
children and young people with key road
safety issues and working together in your
local communities to improve road safety,
we can create safer spaces and mobility
for all, be that walking, cycling, in a private
vehicle or a public bus; we can help create
safer, greener environments, encourage
active and healthier lifestyles, and prevent
road traffic tragedies to ultimately save lives.
https://www.brake.org.uk/road-safetyweek
20 November 2021 | parenta.com
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