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10 road safety tips to help keep your kids safe

Road safety is something that I am acutely aware of, we live on a hill, and cars tend to speed up it, and down it rather fast. Not only that, but both sides of the road have parked cars on them, making it even harder for my children to cross safely.

As a result, we are pleased to be involved in the Be Safe Be Seen campaign from Co-operative Funeralcare, which aims to help children stay safer at night, and generally on the roads, as the days get shorter and many need to walk home in the dark.

Co-op Funeralcare - Be Safe Be Seen (UK version)

The company have given out 160,000 “Be Safe Be Seen” badges in the U.K. at over 1,500 primary schools to help children to have reflective kit to enable drivers to see them more easily when it gets darker.

Be safe be seen in a UK campaign to help kids stay safer on the roads at night as the nights draw in.

Road safety isn’t just about this though, we have, with the help of Cooperative Funeralcare and a bit of common sense come up with ten great road safety tips to insure that you and your children are safe when they take to the streets.

Road safety tips for kids are vital as they are growing up. We should be encouraging it from as soon as possible, and here are some road safety tips to help your children learn to safely cross the road sooner rather than later.

  1. Out of sight; make sure that you teach your children from an early age of the dangers of hidden entrances and driveways as they walk along the pavement. Is it really a pavement, or could there be a car turning in or out?
  2. On the inside; when you are walking within your child, encourage them to remain on your inside, away from the traffic, and when they are walking alone, stop them from walking too close to the edge of the pavement. All it takes is a stumble and if they are too near the pavement kerb, they are in the road,
  3. Watch your back; if there are cars reversing around you, take extra car. Sometimes it is hard for drivers to see smaller children no matter how hard they are looking. You also need to be aware that sometimes, drivers who are reversing may not be looking as well as they should be….,
  4. Choose your spot; crossing somewhere that is safe is a massive step towards being road safety aware. Make sure that you cross at a pedestrian or a controlled crossing if you can
  5. Wait; wherever you are crossing, you need to wait, even on a pedestrian crossing, to make sure that traffic is clear OR it has stopped from both directions. Don’t focus on one way, and miss traffic from the other direction,
  6. Stop, look, listen; as a child of the eighties, I remember the campaigns from yesteryear, and their message rings true today. When you are crossing, you need to stop at the kerb, look both ways, and listen to make sure it is safe. Use ALL the senses you can, and you are likely to remain safe,
  7. Islands in the stream; more complex road systems need to be treated as separate crossings. A top road safety tip it is think of islands within bigger roads as totally separate crossing, don’t try to get across them both at the same time,
  8. Play safe; kids should be encouraged not to play near busy roads. As I am sure you can imagine, it is very easy to forget where they are when they are caught up in the game they are playing, and there is much greater likelihood of them running into the road without looking,
  9. Be a good example; kids copy their parents, so make sure that YOU are setting a good example to your children and practise what you preach. Don’t run across roads for example, just in case you trip. Allow plenty of time to cross, and there is not need to run!
  10. Be reflective; wear reflective clothes and accessories at night. You can buy simple tabards, and get the Be Safe Be Seen badges from your local funeral director too.

It is hard to teach kids to be road safety conscious, if we aren’t always aware of it with them from an early age. So get started early, and you will have a easier time of it.

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Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine! Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time. KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10. It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania. Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on. Get in touch TODAY!

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Mp3 Mans3

Wednesday 6th of April 2016

It is hard to teach kids to be road safety conscious, if we aren’t always aware of it with them from an early age. So get started early, and you will have a easier time of it.

executive computers

Wednesday 13th of January 2016

Its great responsibility of parents to aware their childs about road safety.You share good tips which is helpful.I like this article.

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