Small Steps – Pedestrian Training

The pedestrian training team at Kent County Council provide practical, roadside, road safety training for Key Stage 1 children delivered in schools over the course of a term.  We also have some helpful videos for parents, carers and teachers on how to teach road safety to children when out and about.  Walking is great for our wellbeing, it keeps you healthier and is good for the environment. Help us to teach children the skills for how to be safer pedestrians.

Small Steps

Small Steps is a pedestrian training scheme designed for key stage 1 children and is delivered over the course of a term.  Children are taken out in small groups for up to 30 minutes each week to the roadside to learn the 3 key skills

• Finding safer places to cross
• The dangers of junctions
• Crossing between parked cars

If you would like your school to receive Small Steps training please email us on [email protected]

Every Step

Teaching children pedestrian road safety skills is an important part of growing up and becoming independent, safer road users.

As parents and carers, it is our duty to ensure the safety of all children, using road safety as a life skill.

It is not possible for Kent Count Council to deliver practical pedestrian sessions in person to each and every child in the county, but with the below videos and resources, we can help everyone to become a safer pedestrian in a fun and safe way.

In the below videos and information sheets, you can find all the details you need to help you to teach your children key pedestrian road safety skills.

The Basics

Just like us grown-ups learning to drive a car, children need good pedestrian experiences, where they can gain real world experiences with traffic environments.  Children are vulnerable road users who need close parental guidance dealing with traffic environments.

Here are some key things to remember:

• Children are smaller and sometimes harder for drivers to see.
• Children cannot judge speed, distance or the origin of sound until they are around ten years old. Don’t forget, this is different for every child, with some developing later.
• Developing abstract ideas, such as road safety, can be hard to for children to grasp.
• They are unable to identify safer places to cross the road on their own.
• They do not realise that it is unsafe to cross near obstacles.
• Children are easily distracted and usually can only focus on one thing at a time.
• Children are impulsive, they may make decisions to cross roads without taking the time to think or to understand about whether it is safe or not.
• Children believe that cars can stop instantly.

As a parent/carer, you have a key role in educating your child about the importance of road safety. Children learn by doing and benefit from real world experiences.  You have the perfect opportunity to educate your child whilst making your journeys as pedestrians, use this time to discuss road safety as part of your journey and why your choices are important. These experiences are the building blocks to helping your child understand road safety and how it helps to keep them safe.

It is important to teach children the Road Safety/Green Cross Code, you can find information on what we teach children in Road Safety Club here.

 

Finding Safer Places to Cross

There is no completely safe place to cross the road. This video will help you teach children about what makes a safer place to cross the road, and the reasons why they are safer.

The Dangers of Junctions

Children are not aware of the multiple directions in which cars can travel at junctions. This video will help you teach children how to recognise junctions and explain why it is not safe to cross at or near them.

 

Crossing Between Parked Cars

There may be times where we have no option but to cross between parked cars, however roads that are completely clear are rare.  We would encourage children to find a safer place to cross, away from parked cars if possible.  If that isn’t possible, this video will help you to teach children a simple approach to be used when crossing between parked cars.

Additional Resources

Download our KCC Road Safety Activity Book for your children to read and complete at home.