Children and road safety: increasing knowledge does not improve behaviour

Programmes designed to teach children about road safety have often failed to assess their effectiveness in terms of either an increase in children's knowledge or an improvement in children's behaviour.

The two studies reported here sought to address both issues, by focusing on the abilities of Primary 1 children (5 years old).

A total of 120 Primary 1 children within the age range 4-5 years old participated in this study, drawn from three different primary schools within an educational district of Scotland.

In the first study the effects of three different road safety interventions were tested, all of which employed commercially marketed products: 1) a three-dimensional model of the traffic environment; 2) a road safety board game; and 3) illustrated posters and flip-chart materials. In the second study the transfer of knowledge to children's behaviour in a real-life traffic environment was tested, using a subsample of 47 children who had taken part in the first study.

Results from the first study showed, surprisingly, that all three interventions were effective in increasing children's knowledge about safe and dangerous locations at which to cross the street, and that this knowledge was retained for a period of six months. Study 2, however, showed that increased knowledge did not result in improved traffic behaviour. Children who had received training performed no better than children in a control group.

These findings highlight the need to distinguish between children's road safety knowledge and their behaviour, particularly for teachers and parents, who may mistakenly believe that children who know more will be safer on the road.