National and international studies and statistics show that road trauma is the leading cause of injury and death of children to age 14 years. One contributing element of this trauma among children relates to pedestrian accidents. Reducing child pedestrian trauma is a complex problem requiring a multi-faceted approach. One approach is through education. This evaluative study explored the links between the implementation of RoadSmart, a new primary school road safety education program developed by VicRoads, and the road crossing behaviour of children in year 2.A process-outcome approach was employed which focused on both the implementation and outcome components of the year 2 "Walking safely" component of the RoadSmart program. RoadSmart offers children first-hand experiences of real-traffic situations and comprises two major parts - school based learning sequences and take-home activities, designed to involve parents/carers in educating their children about road safety. Pre and post unobtrusive observations were undertaken of participating children crossing the road at an unmarked mid-block location and were matched for 44 children. The program was also systematically observed in the classrooms of these students. The findings imply that if teachers implement RoadSmart in the intended manner, students cross roads more safely. Overall findings from this evaluation concur with those of other researchers(Demetre et al., 1993; Rivara, 1990; Roberts, 1980; Thomson et al., 1996), that children under 9 possess capabilities that can be fostered through education and real-street experience to enable them to function more effectively in the traffic environment.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/245653 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Leadbeatter, Corinne |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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