Transport Research Laboratory Department for International Development

Old Wokingham Road 94 Victoria Street

Crowthorne, Berkshire, RG45 6AU London, SWIE 5JL

OVERSEAS ROAD NOTE 17

ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

GUIDELINES FOR GOOD PRACTICE IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS
WITH PARTICULAR FOCUS ON THE SITUATION IN GHANA

Subsector: Transport

Theme: TI: Reduce accidents and increase road safety in rural and urban areas

Project title: Road Safety Development and Evaluation of Educational Programmes

Project reference: R6029

Copyright Transport Research Laboratory 1997. All rights reserved.

This document is an output from a project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit
of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the DFID.

Transport Research Foundation Group of Companies

Transport Research Foundation (a company limited by guarantee) trading as Transport Research Laboratory Registered in England, Number 3011746
TRL Limited Registered to England, Number 3142272 Registered Offices: Old Wokingham Road, Crowthorne, Berkshire, RG45 6AU.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This document was prepared by Gill Murray and Jill Guy, both consultant teachers, whilst working for the Transport Research
Laboratory, Overseas Centre. The Project Manager was Ivan Sayer.

The authors wish to acknowledge the numerous schools, teachers and children whose help was invaluable. The authors are particularly
grateful to Mr L Clocuh, Director, Regional Education Office, Mrs P Anson-Yevu, Assistant Director, Accra
Metropolis District Education Office and Mr J Amegashie, Director, National Road Safety Secretariat.

First Published 1997

ISSN 0951-8797

OVERSEAS ROAD NOTES

Overseas Road Notes are prepared principally for road and transport authorities in countries receiving technical assistance
from the British Government. A limited number of copies is available to other organisations and to individuals with an
interest in roads overseas, and may be obtained from:

Overseas Centre
Transport Research Laboratory
Crowthorne, Berkshire, RG45 6AU
United Kingdom

Limited extracts from the text may be reproduced provided the source is acknowledged. For more extensive
reproduction, please write to:

Programme Director,
Overseas Centre,
Transport Research Laboratory.
 CONTENTS

Page Page

1. INTRODUCTION 1 5. ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION

- EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE 15
Why Have These Guidelines Been Written? 1
Ghana 15
Who Are The Guidelines for? 1
Nepal 17
What is Road Safety Education? 1
Papua New Guinea 17
What Are the Main Aims of
Road Safety Education? 1 6. REFERENCES

Why is Road Safety Education Important? 2 APPENDIX A: Summary of `Safe Ways' 19

Who is Responsible for Accident Prevention? 2 APPENDIX B: Aide Memoire 20

Why Do Children Have Accidents? 3 APPENDIX C: Proposed Council Members

for National Road Safety
How Can Accidents Be Prevented? 4 Committee in Ghana 22

2. ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION APPENDIX D: Life Skills Syllabus 23

- A NATIONAL POLICY 6

Making Road Safety Education

work at a national level 6

STEP 1 Collecting Information 6

STEP 2 Creating a Road Safety

Education Committee 6

STEP 3 Forming Policy and

Delivery Structure 6
STEP 4 Implementing the Policy 7

STEP 5 Monitoring and Evaluating 7

3. ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION (RSE)

- THE CURRICULUM

What are the key points in teaching

Road Safety Education? 10

Curriculum links 10

4. ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION

- CHILDREN'S LEARNING OBJECTIVES 12

Are there Universal Objectives for Children

Learning to be Safer Pedestrians? 12
ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES GUIDELINES FOR GOOD PRACTICE IN
PRIMARY SCHOOLS
WITH PARTICULAR FOCUS ON THE SITUATION IN GHANA

1. INTRODUCTION

FACTS
• Road accidents are a primary and growing cause of death and injury to children in developing countries.

• Road Safety Education is limited in developing countries, but the Transport Research Laboratory's research has
demonstrated that this can be a cost effective remedial measure if the principles of good practice are followed.

after in-service Road Safety Education training, and would be

WHY HAVE THESE GUIDELINES BEEN
suitable for the following people:
WRITTEN?
• lecturers in colleges of education
1.1 In response to the above facts, TRL, funded by DFID
(Department for International Development), recently de-
• headteachers
veloped a specifically designed Road Safety Education
resource, called `SAFE WAYS', (Summary of `Safe Ways'.
• classroom teachers.
Appendix A), for upper primary children, which was re-
searched in Ghana. Preliminary results are encouraging.
WHAT IS ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION?
1.2 Arising from this and other overseas work, and from
1.6 In broad terms Road Safety Education is teaching
their considerable experience of the British Road Safety
children to be safer road users. It is providing a foundation and
Education scene, the authors have drawn together these
a guide on which the child can develop its own strategy for
international `Guidelines' in the hope that people will be
coping with the dangers and hazards of the road environment.
inspired by the good practice of others. Whatever cultural
Road Safety Education is an area of work which fits naturally
differences exist between countries the same fundamental
into most subject areas and topics. How this can be achieved
principles of Road Safety Education underlie good practice.
will be illustrated within these Guidelines.
1.3 The Guidelines illustrate the importance of Road Safety
WHAT ARE THE MAIN AIMS OF ROAD
Education, and show how a developing country might put in
SAFETY EDUCATION?
place a system that ensures primary children receive adequate
Road Safety Education.
1.7 To help pupils become safer road users by developing:
WHO ARE THE GUIDELINES FOR?
• their knowledge and understanding of the road
environment
1.4 The Guidelines will be helpful at a national planning and
policy level to the following people:
• their decision making and behavioural skills necessary
to survive in the road environment
• policy makers in Ministries e.g. Education, Transport,
Health, Public Works, Police
• their knowledge and understanding of the rules that
influence and control the actions of road users
• administrators in government services e.g. curriculum
advisors in the education service.
• their knowledge and understanding of the causes and
consequences of accidents
1.5 The Guidelines give examples of what and how to teach
and of Road Safety Education's place in a school's curriculum.
• responsible attitudes to their own safety and the safety
They could be distributed at a district level
of others.

1
WHY IS ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION IMPORTANT?

FACTS

• 500,000 people are killed in road accidents each year, and 350,000 of these are in developing countries.

• Road accident fatalities in a number of African and Asian countries are increasing annually.

• Pedestrian accidents are a particularly serious problem in developing countries. For example, in Africa 42 per cent of the
road accident fatalities are pedestrians compared with only 20 per cent on average in Europe and the United States of
America.

1.8 The road and traffic environment affects our lives in a using education as one means of addressing the problem. Any
profound way on a daily basis, whichever country we live in, country should, like Ghana, be aware of its accident pattern
whether we are adults or children. before it can take remedial measures. In general, casualties
increase as children get older and become more exposed to
1.9 Children in developing countries spend much of their traffic. In Ghana child casualties are mostly in the 6-10 year old
time as pedestrians and are extremely vulnerable road users. age group, as are most deaths. Other studies have shown that
Road Safety Education, improved driver behaviour, males have a higher pedestrian casualty rate per head of
engineering measures and good practice measures need to be population than females, and this is also true of Ghana. In most
taken to reverse this fact. Ghana has begun this task. European countries accidents to pedestrians tend to happen
close together on local roads in areas where visibility is
1.10 Ghana has a particularly serious pedestrian accident obscured. In Ghana most pedestrian accidents happen on urban
problem, pedestrians representing 43 per cent of road accident roads away from junctions. The resource `SAFE WAYS' is an
fatalities of which 47 per cent were children. Ghana's Ministry example of a good practice measure written in the knowledge
of Transport and Communications is aware of the of the country's accident pattern.
characteristics of its accident pattern, and is

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ACCIDENT PREVENTION?

1.11 Many different groups of people are responsible for Politicians

accident prevention: They need to know about the problems and how to resolve
them: this may mean passing laws to do so.
Police
They need to encourage safe behaviour, and prevent dangerous Community members
behaviour by applying the law. They need to set an example of how to behave safely. Children
copy what adults do. They need to be involved in initiating and
supporting local action to improve road safety.

2
Policy makers WHY DO CHILDREN HAVE ACCIDENTS?

They need to be aware of the problems and be able to 1.13 The nature of children is to be impulsive and unreliable.
implement solutions through policy making at ministerial level.
They find it hard to give their attention to two activities at once,
Teachers and often they are absorbed in play perhaps making them less
able to understand real life situations.
They need to receive initial teacher training, and in-service
training in Road Safety Education in order to give planned 1.14 They have limited experience.
educational opportunities to their pupils.
It should be remembered that children develop skills only
Parents gradually - they have not been alive for very long!

They need to set a safe example, protect and educate their 1.15 They are smaller than adults.
children.
Their vision is restricted because of their lack of height. Their
Infrastructure authorities perception is immature.

They need to consider children, particularly as pedestrians, 1.16 They are often unsupervised or poorly supervised by
when planning and developing roads. their parents.

Drivers From studies of pedestrian accidents we know that children

play outside their homes, and because these areas are
They need to be made aware of children's limitations in traffic, sometimes quiet, perhaps some parents think that children can
and measures need to be taken to improve driver behaviour. cope alone.

Official road safety body 1.17 Various studies confirm these points: they found that
children display:
For Road Safety Education to be effective there needs to be a
national commitment at all levels, indicated in the diagram • poor powers of perception, concentration, attention,
above, and a means of ensuring that all efforts are coordinated memory, and physical and emotional control
into a cost effective programme. This national commitment can
be facilitated by a national body responsible for • poor knowledge and understanding of traffic
communication, co-ordination and publicity within the road
safety field. It is important to ensure, however, that any such • poor behavioural patterns in the traffic environment.
organisation does not just exist in name only, but is effective
and dynamic. 1.18 These characteristics apply to all children both from
developed and developing countries.
1.12 Ghana is fortunate to have the benefit of a powerful
national committee (National Road Safety Committee) as its
official body. It is active in a variety of road safety fields and
has an overview of policy and practice.

3
HOW CAN ACCIDENTS BE PREVENTED?

1.19 Road accidents can be prevented in four main ways, has introduced a scheme on a trial basis to improve accident
namely the four E's. prevention and reduce accidents.

Engineering - by altering the environment. 1.23 To encourage the transfer of suitable technology in this
field TRL has published `Towards Safer Roads in Developing
Enforcement - by imposing laws. Countries - a road safety grade for planners and engineers'
(TRRL, 1991). It gives examples of good and bad practices
Encouragement - by the use of publicity campaigns. around the world, and highlights the fact, that many underlying
general principles for planning and engineering affecting safety
Education - by gaining and using knowledge. are, to some extent, universal.

1.20 It should be recognised that education is one measure in Enforcement

a package of measures that can improve road safety.
1.24 Accidents can be reduced through the application of the
Engineering law. To be effective police need to be well equipped,
knowledgeable and able to respond quickly and safely to any
1.21 Human error is the major causal factor in road accidents. traffic incident. Traffic police also need to earn the respect of
However, engineering measures and planning improvements, other road users by setting good examples of driving and
such as, traffic signals, pedestrians crossings, junction layouts general road user behaviour.
and speed control humps can affect road user behaviour in such
a way that errors are less likely to happen or when they do 1.25 With generally lower standards of road user discipline in
happen the environment can make them less serious. many developing countries than in developed countries, the
potential for improving driver behaviour through the use of
1.22 There has been very little research in developing policing is high. This is especially true with regard to moving
countries into the relationship between highway design violations. Introducing a highway patrol on a major intercity
standards and accident rates; thus many developing countries road in Egypt led to a reduction in accidents of almost 50%. In
have just modified schemes from developed countries. Ghana, Pakistan, regular highway patrols on selected sections of roads
however, is one of a few developing countries that resulted in a 6%

4
reduction in accidents. On similar roads with no patrols to inform the driving public of the vulnerability of children.
accidents rose by 37%. However, police presence at signalised The NRSC is responsible for many other media areas
junctions in Kenya and Pakistan showed drivers having little encouraging road safety awareness. Recently it has produced a
regard for police presence in terms of the proportion of drivers video and a flip chart for use in schools and designed bill board
passing red signals and stopping for pedestrians waiting to use posters to promote the use of seat belts and motorcycle helmets.
zebra crossings. The Committee also features regularly on television and in the
newspapers to convey safety messages and produces
1.26 In Accra, Ghana, traffic police hold regular training and information leaflets for distribution at work places and
instruction sessions for traffic violators. Apprehended drivers churches.
attend police headquarters for corrective training lessons by a
police instructor. Public transport drivers allowing passenger Education
overloading have their vehicles impounded for a limited time
and are fined. 1.29 Road accidents can be prevented by acquiring and using
knowledge. It is recognised that Road Safety Education
Encouragement programmes should be graded and structured developmentally
and that teachers need guidelines on what and how to teach.
1.27 Encouragement is the role of publicity which attempts to Such programmes need to be relevant to the particular
inform and educate road users with a view to persuading them developing country, although fundamental principles of Road
to change their behaviour to make accidents less likely. There Safety Education underlie all good practice.
are many channels through which encouragement can take
place e.g. newspapers, radio, television, magazines, books, 1.30 Engineering, enforcement, encouragement and edu-
tapes, films and videos, leaflets, posters and stickers. Often cation give a framework in which a road safety team is capable
many of these media are used to promote a road safety of co-ordinating and integrating a wide range of road safety
campaign based on an agreed chosen problem area. improvements. At a strategic level it is important that Road
Safety Education as a remedial measure is planned and
1.28 In Ghana the National Road Safety Committee (NRSC) developed within this multi-disciplinary context. The remainder
is the springboard for most road safety publicity, choosing one of this document focuses on the development and
or two topics a year to focus upon. For example a campaign implementation of Road Safety Education as an effective
`Save the Child' was launched in 1995 accident prevention measure.

5
2. ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION Representation should come from disciplines such as edu-
- A NATIONAL POLICY cation, police, health, highways and transport, and the national
road safety body, if such an organisation exists. The size of the
MAKING ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION committee should be restricted to 12 - 20 people (see Appendix
WORK AT A NATIONAL LEVEL B).

2.1 For progress to be made nationwide in accident and In Ghana the National Road Safety Committee (NRSC) has
injury prevention road safety has to be designed as a national assumed the leading role in Road Safety Education. Education
goal with efficient management structures set up at national as is one part of its function.
well as at local levels.
STEP 3 - Forming Policy and Delivery Structure
2.2 The diagram below shows in a very simplified way how "In order that Road Safety Education be really effective it
Road Safety Education can reach primary school children by requires a clear structure within a recognised curriculum with a
following 5 steps. It requires commitment, co-ordination planned, sustained and coherent programme of learning" (DOT,
and communication at all levels to reach implementation. 1995). Therefore the policy and aims of Road Safety Education
need to be decided by the multidisciplinary committee referred
STEP 1 - Collecting information to in STEP 2.
Information needs to be collected and collated when assessing a
country prior to implementing a suitable Road Safety Education Details of content should be written by curriculum specialists
programme. A co-ordinator needs to be appointed for this based upon the core Children's Learning Objectives suggested
purpose. Ideally this person should be appointed by one of the in Chapter 4.
ministries responsible for children's safety e.g. Education,
Health, Transport. They should have an education background A feasible delivery structure needs to be carefully thought out
since it will be their responsibility to assemble the Road Safety and agreed upon, in the light of the information gathered.
Education Committee mentioned in STEP 2. Cultural and religious considerations also need to be made
when thinking about delivery. For example, a country might
Figure 2.1 'Organisational Inquiries' illustrates key areas to have a strong network of women's groups which is an
be addressed, key people to be visited and key questions to be established way of passing on health and safety messages.
asked by the co-ordinator. Successful transference of Road Safety Education for primary
children in the UK is through teachers in schools.
Figure 2.2 `Organisational Model' displays the information
gathered from Ghana. With thus background information a Ghana has begun to follow good practice by:
country can begin the task of developing a structure to make
Road Safety Education work. (See Figures 2.1 and 2.2). • producing a policy report for Road Safety (Crown Agents,
1995). The Report suggests that the best approach to Road
STEP 2 - Creating a Road Safety Education Committee Safety Education in Ghana is to develop institutional
A Road Safety Committee for education needs to be created by provision in formal education, i.e. through curriculum
people with the power to generate change. development, and also to utilise non-formal education
methods such as publicity.

Step 5 Monitoring and evaluating

Step 4 Implementing policy

Step 3 Forming policy and delivery structure

Step 2 Creating road safety education committee

Step 1 Collecting information

6
 • planning to establish Road Safety Committees iii the Ghana it is proposed to use NRSC staff as resource persons in
larger cities and in each region, and by appointing 10 teacher training colleges.
regional Road Safety Officers to assist with the delivery
of Road Safety Education through teachers in primary STEP 5 - Monitoring and Evaluating
schools. The monitoring and evaluation of Road Safety Education
should take place at all levels, for example at school as well as
STEP 4 - Implementing the Policy at ministerial level. Road Safety Education is difficult to
Government ministries need to accept the recommendations of monitor and evaluate, because it is impossible to decide
the Road Safety Education Committee and introduce policies to whether an accident would have happened with or without an
enable implementation at national and local level. educational input. However it is important that the Road Safety
Implementation at local level to primary aged children is Education Committee be assured that the expenditure is
usually through teachers in schools, but can be through the bringing an adequate return in terms of greater knowledge and
police, health workers, or community groups such as women's safer behaviour, which should lead to reduced accidents in the
groups or churches. long term. It is advisable that one person with a research
background should be appointed to have an overview of the
Both the UK and Ghana have taken the education route. If an monitoring and evaluation.
adequate school system is in place the education route is
recommended with support from other disciplines. It is Ghana's According to the Policy Report for Road Safety (Crown
intention through the National Road Safety Committee to give Agents, 1995) the NRSC will link with the University of Ghana
some in-service training to teachers. to carry out specified in-depth research and suggest ways of
monitoring and evaluating publicity and education initiatives.
In order to facilitate the inclusion of Road Safety Education in
the school curriculum teacher training colleges will need to be
encouraged to include it in their programmes. In

7
8
Fig. 2.1 Organisational inquiries for road safety education (RSE)
 Fig. 2.2 Organisational MODEL for Road Safety Education (RSE) ref Ghana

9
3. ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION
(RSE) - THE CURRICULUM RSE should be PRESENTED frequently

WHAT ARE THE KEY POINTS IN TEACHING 3.5 Children behave more safely immediately after some
ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION? training and less safe some months later (Limbourg and Gerber
1981). This shows the importance of presenting Road Safety
3.1 There are 5 important points (`the 5 Ps') to remember Education frequently.
when teaching children road safety. They can be summarised as
follows. It should RSE should have a PLACE in the school
timetable
• begin PRE-SCHOOL
3.6 Road Safety Education must have a proper place in the
• be PRACTICAL school timetable. It must be decided where it belongs:

• follow PRINCIPLES of child development • is it a subject in its own right?

(`Road Safety')
• be PRESENTED frequently to school children
• is it part of another subject?
• have a PLACE in the school timetable. e.g. life skills, health education, environment

RSE should begin PRE-SCHOOL • is it to be integrated into other school subjects?

e.g. mathematics, social studies, English, science (see
3.2 To be effective Road Safety Education should be given Figure 3.1 below)
systematically and continuously throughout a child's school
life. Its effectiveness largely depends upon an accumulation of • is it outside the school curriculum?
learning and experience, which begins before the child can e.g. road safety clubs in Ghana, cycle training in the
walk and never really ends. UK, both take place after school hours.

RSE should be PRACTICAL CURRICULUM LINKS

3.3 Research has shown that practical training is essential if 3.7 In Ghana Road Safety Education is at present in the Life
pedestrian behaviour of young children is to be improved. Skills syllabus, and the `SAFE WAYS' programme as a whole
Theoretical teaching in a classroom situation has been shown to could be used there. Parts of the `SAFE WAYS' programme
improve knowledge without affecting the child's behaviour also link with other subject areas in the Ghanaian curriculum as
near roads. shown below.

RSE should follow the PRINCIPLES of child 3.8 The most important thing is that Road Safety Education
development exists somewhere in the school timetable and it is identified.

3.4 To begin with a very young child should be prevented by 3.9 Ghana has begun to address these issues. At present
an adult from going near roads, and eventually the young some Road Safety Education is in the Life Skills syllabus of
person is competent alone in a busy traffic environment. To their national curriculum (see Appendix D). More Road Safety
move the child from one extreme to the other teachers have to Education is being planned for the future and is likely to appear
use their knowledge of the principles of child development. For in the proposed new Environment curriculum.
example a child under 6 years old cannot put himself /herself in
someone else's position; so it is difficult to imagine whether a 3.10 Two new resources are to be introduced:
driver can see him/her or not. The child under 11 years old
finds it difficult to focus on the relevant and ignore the 1) ‘SAFE WAYS’ written by TRL for DFID, is for
irrelevant - so perhaps would be distracted by a friend calling teachers of upper primary school children.
out when he/she is trying to cross the road.
2) `Road Safety Education in Primary Schools'. A Guide
for teachers by the National Road Safety Committee.

10
Fig. 3.1 `Safe Ways' Road Safety Education Resource

11
4. ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION • child demonstrating good practice to adult
- CHILDREN'S LEARNING
OBJECTIVES • total independence with young person being the
decision maker.
ARE THERE UNIVERSAL OBJECTIVES FOR
CHILDREN LEARNING TO BE SAFER 4.2 Passive methods of Road Safety Education are known to
PEDESTRIANS? be poor. Recent research in the UK has shown that 5 and 7 year
old children had virtually no ability to separate safe from
4.1 In considering children's needs there should be a gradual dangerous places to cross (K Ampofo-Boateng and J
progression from total protection to total independence. This Thompson, 1993). This shows that practical learning in the real
involves interaction with parents/carers, teachers and peer road environment is vital. This approach has been used
groups with their importance varying at different times. effectively in both the UK (RoSPA. 1994) and Ghana (Sayer,
Children should move through the progression as follows: 1997), proving popular with teachers and pupils alike.

• total protection with adult leading child 4.3 Each stage builds upon and reinforces previous learn-
ing. Therefore only new objectives are set out below. The
• adult demonstrating good practice to child stages are only a guide and one must always be aware of an
individual's starting point.

12
13
14
5. ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION - EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE

GHANA

5.1 The SAFE WAYS programme presented school pupils in Accra with novel opportunities to learn, both in the classroom and
school compound, and in practical situations outside near real roads. The programme aimed to increase their road safety awareness
culminating in the children making safer journeys to and from school.

Plate 5.1) Upper primary school pupils in Accra participate in Road Safety Education using `SAFE WAYS'.

Plate 5.2) Primary school teachers in Accra participate in workshops before using `SAFE WAYS'.

15
 Plate 5.3) A teacher in Ghana uses a poster discuss crossing the road safely with her class.

Plate 5.4) A poster based upon the National Road Safety Committee's flip chart used to discuss safe places to cross the road.

16
NEPAL puppets are cheap, transportable and easily made. After the
show a discussion takes place to test the children's under-
Nepal uses puppets to teach Road Safety Education standing. Then a demonstration is given with the help of
5.2 Nepal has changed drastically in recent years. Kathmandu teachers preferably near the roadside, or in the school grounds.
was virtually a village 30 years ago. The roads now carry a
mixture of bicycle, buses, lorries as well as ox carts and 5.5 This approach has apparently been very successful; not
rickshaws, with the additional hazards of many farm animals only have the children benefited but teachers and mothers have
moving along. also become involved through the demonstrations.

5.3 A road safety programme was implemented in 1992 PAPUA NEW GUINEA
because of the large number accidents. With illiteracy rates of
80% for women and 50% for men, puppets were chosen as a 5.6 Papua New Guinea has produced a road safety book
means of portraying road safety messages to children. Teams of called `Road Smart' aimed at school children.
men were recruited through the Scouts and trained to work in
designated areas. 5.7 A variety of road safety messages, rules and information
is contained within its 40 pages. They are presented in
5.4 The puppet show lasts about 20 minutes and deals with a appealing and exciting ways. (See Figure 5.1 below).
single problem e.g. running into the road. The

Fig. 5.1 Example of a road safety message

17
6. REFERENCES
AMPOFO-BOATENG K, THOMSON J A, and others, 1993.
A developmental and training study of children's ability to find
safe routes to cross the road. British Journal of Developmental
Psychology, Volume 11, Number 1, pp 31-45.

DoT, 1995. Road Safety Education in Schools: Primary Schools

Good practice Guidelines. London: Department of Transport.

CROWN AGENTS Ref: TEA/A369, 1995. (Unpublished

contractors report for Ministry of Transport and Commu-
nications, Ghana). Road safety study and the institutional
strengthening of the vehicle examination and licensing division.

DOWNING, C Sand others, 1991. Trials of a road safety

booklet for a pre-school traffic club. TRRL Laboratory Report
992. Crowthorne: Transport and Road Research Laboratory.

LIMBOURG M and D GERBER, 1981. A parent training

program for the road safety education of preschool children.
Accident analysis and prevention, Vol 13 No 3, pp 255-267.

RoSPA, 1994 . Let's decide - walk wise. Birmingham: Royal

Society for the Prevention of Accidents, ISBN 85088 071 9
RoSPA.

SAYER I A and others, 1997. Improving road safety education

in developing countries; Ghana. TRL Report 265. Crowthorne:
Transport Research Laboratory.

TRRL OVERSEAS UNIT, 1991. Towards safer roads in

developing countries: a guide for planners and engineers.
Crowthorne: Transport and Road Research Laboratory.

18
APPENDIX A: SUMMARY OF `SAFE WAYS'

LESSON 1 STEPPING OUT

(Where and how to walk)

Classroom: Work: Accidents and pedestrian behaviour are discussed.

Practical Work: Practice in walking and stopping takes place in the compound.

Homework: Learning is reinforced and the children are encouraged to pass on their knowledge to younger children.

LESSON 2 LOOKING AND TELLING

(Observing and environment)

Classroom Work: Rules for safe walking are discussed.

Practical Work: This looks at what can be found on the footpath and road, and takes note of observations made from the
compound and/or near the road.

Homework: Observation work continues and includes road signs.

LESSON 3 ZEBRAS AND OTHER CROSSINGS

(Using protected crossing places)

Classroom Work: Discussion takes place on what protected crossing places are, their names, and how to make use of them. The
Green Cross Code is featured.

Practical Work: This takes place in the compound or outside the school, and includes a demonstration of how to use
at least one of these crossings.

Homework: The personal use of crossings is considered especially on the journey to and from school. Passing on
knowledge to younger children is encouraged.

LESSON 4 SEEING AND BEING SEEN

(Crossing where there are no protected crossing places)

Classroom Work: There is a classroom discussion on how to choose the safest place to cross when no protected crossing places
exist.

Practical Work: Practice in the selection of a "safe" place, and crossing in a safe manner is carried out in the compound and/or
outside the school.

Homework: Using the Green Cross Code is included, and the importance of explaining it simply to younger children.

LESSON 5 GETTING THERE SAFELY

Choosing the safest route between home and school)

Classroom Work: Discussion takes place on the problems encountered on school journeys, and suggestions are made on how to
make routes safer. A large poster is studied for this purpose.

Practical Work: On the way home pedestrians are observed, and personal routes to and from school to home are considered
for their safety value.

Homework: Pupils evaluate and try to improve their school route.

19
APPENDIX B: AIDE MEMOIRS

20
21
APPENDIX C: PROPOSED COUNCIL MEMBERS FOR NATIONAL ROAD
SAFETY COMMITTEE IN GHANA

1. Chairman of the Council

2. Ministry of Transport and Communications
3. Ministry of the Interior
4. Ministry of Health
5. Ministry of the Environment
6. Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development
7. Ghana Police Service Motor Transport and Traffic Units (MTTU)
8. Ghana Education Service
9. Ghana Highway Authority
10. Department of Urban Roads
11. Vehicle Examination and Licensing Department (VELD)
12. Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI)
13. Police National Ambulance Service
14. Environmental Protection Agency
15. Accra Metropolitan Authority
16. Automobile Association
17. Ghana National Chamber of Commerce

22
APPENDIX D: EXAMPLE FROM THE LIFE SKILLS SYLLABUS IN GHANA

23
OS-E
ISSN 0951 - 8797

Road Safety Education in developing countries

Guidelines for good practice in primary schools ORN 17