Child Pedestrian Safety In Communities Project

Child pedestrian safety is an area of key concern to Kidsafe, the Motor Accidents Authority and a number of other departments and organisations. The Child Pedestrian Safety In Communities Project is a joint project to address this issue.

Based at Kidsafe NSW, funded by the Motor Accidents Authority (MAA) and supported by a range of key stakeholders, this 18 month project targets parents and carers of children aged between 5 and 10 years of age to highlight the importance of their role in child pedestrian safety.

The Motor Accidents Authority (MAA) is involved as the regulator of NSW's compulsory third party personal injury (CTP) insurance scheme - or Green Slips - and has a legislative role to support injury prevention and contribute to the reduction of injury and disability as a result of crashes on NSW roads. The MAA supports road safety by funding initiatives targeting groups that are a high risk and/or cost to the CTP scheme. Key target groups include pedestrians, youth 17-25, children 0-16, and motorcyclists. This project is one of those initiatives.

The main messages promoted by the project are as follows:

• Children aged 5-10 years need close parent/carer supervision in the traffic environment.
• Supervision is important in all road environments including pedestrian lights and local streets as well as around more apparently complex traffic situations.
• Parents can teach safe pedestrian behaviours through both demonstration and discussion of pedestrian activity

Background

In December 1997, the Motor Accidents Authority (MAA) supported a Kidsafe NSW proposal for a 'Childhood Pedestrian and Bicycle Injury Prevention Program'. This proposal became the first of a number of phases to address child pedestrian and bicycle injury prevention. The phases are as follows:

• Phase 1 (1997) A feasibility study.
• Phase 2 (1999) Research about parental behaviour, attitudes and perception in relation to child pedestrian and bicycle safety issues.
• Phase 3 (2000-2001) Promotion of the research findings to community workers.
• Phase 4 (2002-2003) Child Pedestrian Safety In Communities Project.

Child Pedestrian Safety In Communities Project

Continuing on from previous phases, the Child Pedestrian Safety In Communities project is aimed at increasing the contribution of parents and adult carers in preventing child pedestrian injuries, through Kidsafe and the Motor Accidents Authority working in partnership with key stakeholders and communities.

This 18 month project aims to increase the awareness of parents and carers about the vulnerability of children, especially up to the age of 10, in and around traffic and the importance of parental and adult carer supervision for children, especially up to the age of 10.

Strategies of the project include the following:

• A website to allow easy access to information and resources.
• A Media Campaign to reach parents and carers in the priority areas.
• Resource development to support the media campaign
• Provision of Small Grants for localised community-based projects

Media and resources are targeted to parents and caregivers, of children aged between 5 and 10 years of age, within the priority areas of NSW. Priority areas for this project are the local government areas where the most child pedestrian injuries have occurred in previous years. These include: Auburn, Marrickville, Blacktown, Canterbury, Fairfield, Wollongong, Sutherland, Lake Macquarie, Wyong, Newcastle, Bankstown, Parramatta, Rockdale, Randwick, Campbelltown and Gosford.

The project has a Non-English Speaking Background (NESB) component and targets Arabic, Chinese and Vietnamese languages as the most predominant NESB groups in these areas overall.

For more detailed information about this project, download a copy of the Project Brief or contact Kidsafe NSW.