New THINK! road safety campaign aims to cut child deaths

New road safety resources have been released by the Department for Transport to help teachers and schools highlight the dangers of the road.

The road safety campaign is designed to help cut child fatalities. A recent survey revealed that 67% of children get fewer than two hours of road safety education in their whole time at school and the new THINK! campaign will help schools and teachers highlight the dangers of the road and encourage best practice for children.

The government’s THINK! campaigns have helped reduce child road deaths by 90% since records began in 1979.

Road safety minister Jesse Norman said: “We have some of the safest roads in the world and in the last ten years child road deaths have fallen by more than half. But there is no room for complacency.

“Teachers are already doing great work but it’s important we in government do everything we can to help teach our children these important safety skills. These new resources should make that easier than ever.”

The latest THINK! campaign features a range of new education resources, including: lesson plans; two new films co-created with school children; and a song in a bid to make teaching road safety lessons easier and more accessible.

The first documentary-style film follows a group of school children as they act out how to cross the road safely after learning to use the ‘Stop, Look, Listen, Think’ code.

The second film follows another six children on their different journeys to school, including walking, cycling and scooting. They explain their top tips for getting to school safely in the form of a new road safety song.

The first phase of resources, aimed at 3 to 6 year olds, are on the Think! website. The next two phases for ages 7 to 12 and 13 to 16 will follow in the New Year.

To be the first to hear about the new resources register your interest at: think.direct.gov.uk/signup

Over the past 50 years THINK! has run campaigns that challenge behaviours and attitudes to improve road safety. It has tackled drink driving, drug driving and using handheld phones while driving. THINK! campaigns are credited with helping reduce the number of deaths from 22 a day in 1960 to current levels of five.