Minister for Roads and Ports Duncan Gay recently launched Safety Town, the new road safety program for children that addresses pedestrian distraction for the first time.
Minister Gay said the online and schools program was the only one of its kind in the country and included key messages on distraction with a video featuring Adam Goodes.
“I am grateful Mr Goodes has thrown his support behind the Safety Town program for schools and families, to help raise awareness of distraction. Distraction is a number one issue for pedestrians in NSW and helping young pedestrians avoid the risks is an area of road safety education we are putting more of a focus on,” Mr Gay said.
“It becomes a big risk for our children as they reach an age where they start to travel independently. Sadly this is an age group, around 10 years old, when we see a spike in child pedestrian and bicycle incidents.
“Safety Town will be rolled out in schools from next term and is the first online road safety resource for schools. It means that beyond the classroom, families can use Safetytown.com.au as a valuable starting point to have road safety discussions with their children and find other useful road safety information,” Minister Gay said.
“Around 10 years is a crucial age for them to start building their knowledge as they embark on using the road environment alone or with young friends or young family members,” Mr Goodes said.
Students can learn at home on Safetytown.com.au about:
- Safety around buses;
- Pedestrian distractions;
- Bike safety;
- Safety around school drop off and pick up areas, and
- Seatbelt safety.
Classroom activities will include extra components such as:
- Swapping places with other road users to gain an understanding of their roles;
- Creating a road safety campaign;
- Choosing from 18 characters to take on a road safety journey;
- Quizzes, and
- Creating a safe traffic environment.
Published in Indian magazine, Australia
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