Street Feet

Summary

The initiative takes place within schools and nursery establishments throughout the Dumfries and Galloway area as well as SFRS premises and outdoor areas. The initiative is carried out collaboratively with SFRS, Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Education Department and Police Scotland.

The kit represents roads, crossings, and pavements and also contains role playing tabards, signs, and traffic lights (see image). The training resource can be used wherever there is suitable floor space including, for example, school playgrounds and other recreational areas, depending on the weather. The kit is valued at approximately £400 and was sponsored by a local businessman. It can be purchased from Keltic Clothing

Street Feet can be delivered using the attached guidance notes without any prior training. However, it is very beneficial if you can observe a few sessions before delivering it.

Need for Initiative

The Scottish Government initiated the Road Safety Framework for Scotland to 2020. Scotland’s road safety vision is that there will be: “A steady reduction in the numbers of those killed and those seriously injured, with the ultimate vision of a future where no-one is killed on Scotland’s roads, and the injury rate is much reduced.”

As part of the Dumfries and Galloway Road Safety Partnership [www.dgrsp.co.uk] we support ‘Vision Zero’ – working towards zero road death and much seriously reduced injury rates’ and recognised that we were lacking a resource to educate pre-school road users.

As one of the target vulnerable road user groups, a reduction of 50% of the number of children killed or seriously injured by 2020 is challenging. The Scottish Government’s policy on early intervention and Curriculum for Excellence framework encourages hands-on, multimedia experiences as well as tasks at home, nursery and school and, after doing research into Road Safety education kits for children, we found ‘Street Feet’ to be the best option available, within the budget that we had been given by our sponsor (a local businessman). We were seeking an interactive kit which enabled us to teach young children both the dangers associated with crossing roads and safe ways to do so. This training resource is a modern method of teaching young children vital road safety information.

According to Transport Scotland, there were a total of 9,391 road casualties reported in 2017 of which 146 were fatalities, 1,580 seriously injured and 7,665 slightly injured. SFRS personnel in Dumfries and Galloway realised the importance of developing road safety awareness and knowledge towards preventing future casualties, particularly in young children, as the number of vehicles on Scottish roads continues to increase.

Aims and Objectives

The principal aim of the initiative is to reduce the potential for injuries to nursery and early primary school children on or near roads.

The objectives of the initiative are to:

• provide interesting and enjoyable teaching methods to improve children’s awareness of road safety
• help children understand the dangers posed by roads and traffic
• support children in being more independent in taking responsibility for themselves and others

There are a number of anticipated outcomes for young children who take part in the initiative. These include short term: Children will be more aware of road safety, understand the dangers posed by traffic and roads, have increased knowledge about road signals and crossings and will be able to be more confident and independent in identifying hazards, improved observation and listening skills in road traffic environments. The long term anticipated outcome is that the initiative will contribute towards a reduction in the number of children involved in road traffic incidents within the Dumfries and Galloway SFRS Local Service Delivery Area.

The kit is laid out on the floor representing a road with a pavement either side as well as a crossing. Stop, Look, Listen and Think is the theme throughout the session. Key messages are covered including:

• What their conduct should be whilst using the pavement, such as not running, not walking on the kerb or bouncing a football, not pushing one another.
• Safe places to cross the road – zebra crossings, ‘lollipop person’, pedestrian crossings etc.
• Not crossing between parked cars.
• Not assuming that because the green man is showing it is always safe to cross.
• The importance of high visibility clothing and wearing cycle helmets is emphasised.

Conversation is initiated including discussion about what types of vehicles can be found on the road outside their school, can all traffic be heard approaching etc. Participants are invited to wear tabards to represent the types of vehicles with other participants being pedestrians. The importance of using a crossing attendant, where there is one, and the meaning of the colours of the lights for both vehicles and pedestrians is also covered.

Successes and Challenges

Successes:

• It is an enjoyable, interactive experience which has proven to maintain the interest of participants throughout the session, which can be challenging with this young age group.
•  The kit is flexible and can be used in different ways. It can be adapted to suit constraints on time, venue, numbers participating etc.
• Suitable for follow up sessions with participants who had input the previous year, providing SFRS with feedback for evaluation purposes.
• Can be used in a variety of environments such as school visits, station open days, partner organisation events and community visits.

Challenges:

• The kit and level of learning is not suitable for pupils above Primary 2.
• Works best when used with smaller groups.

Reflections

The main points that we have learned through the development and delivery of this initiative are:

• Children really enjoy the interactive aspect of Street Feet and are very keen to get involved.
• The kit is not suitable for children beyond primary 2 age.
• The kit works best when used with groups of less than 20.

Additional Information

Annex A provides Street Feet Guidance used by Dumfries and Galloway Local Service Delivery area.

Author and Contact Details

Susan Maxwell
Local Authority Liaison Officer
01387 734811
07741234943
susan.maxwell@firescotland.gov.uk