SWOV homepage
Nederlands  

Testing traffic education in primary schools

Organisations involved in traffic education want insight in the relevance of traffic education for road safety. Only then can they determine how much effort they can and should make, especially when renewal of education or road safety policy takes place.

The question that can be asked here is what the yield is of the efforts of actors in traffic education; or rather, how can it be tested whether the traffic education that is given is of a high quality?

 

SWOV was asked to conduct a preliminary study (R-98-40) of the possibilities of testing the results of traffic education.

The first question is: which demands of substance may be made on traffic education in primary schools? We need to take into account two things. On the one hand, the time and resources that primary schools have for traffic. On the other hand, the effects of traffic education are dependent on the activities of others, such as parents and guardians who teach children traffic drill, and municipalities who should provide a safe infrastructure.

 

Once it has been established what a good and feasible traffic education programme is, the method of testing its quality can be determined. This should in the first place be the substance, at the childrens' level in terms of safe behaviour and behaviour determinants such as knowledge and skills. Apart from this, testing should also be carried out at the process level. This concerns the method of education and instruction, the organisation of traffic education at school, agreement between parents and school, support from teachers and school, and (finally) tuning the education to an integrated municipal road safety policy.

 

Based on the knowledge that has been developed in the Netherlands during the last few years, this project formulates quality criteria for traffic education of children. Testing possibilities have also been determined.

As a result of this project, the thus formulated points of application for testing have been developed into a monitoring system. This instrument should be suitable to regularly measure how children have been equipped for safe traffic behaviour and how substance is given to traffic education. It is also recommended to monitor those activities undertaken by

a.    governments at the local, regional, and national level to support traffic education in schools; and

b.    other relevant organisations.

Working out the monitoring system should take place in cooperation with the bodies that conduct (or commission) the monitoring. The final responsibility lies with the national government.

 

It is important that those actively involved with traffic education should exchange experiences, and that knowledge should be developed further. Exchange, for example, can occur using 'best practices'. Research into parts or aspects of traffic education can be necessary to learn more about the conditions for results. The newly acquired knowledge and insight can lead to changes in the traffic education programmes. In this way, a system of feedback for the pupils has been created.

SWOV Research Activities 11 - March 1999

Knowledge base