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Out of interest, is anyone else being asked by children and younger adults – ‘What is a Green Cross and why is it relevant to road safety?’ A ‘Code’ means something different too.
For those of us who lived and loved in the 70’s, we will be familiar with the Green Cross Code and the fabulous ‘Green Cross Code’ man himself, however the relevance for today’s road safety audience is questionable, although the message is still spot on!
May I ask – does anyone else have an opinion on this, do you still use/teach it using the words ‘Green Cross Code’? Do you have another name for it? Is it now obsolete and should we phase this title of ‘Green Cross Code’ out altogether? I would be so interested to hear your feedback. Thank you in advance.
Green Cross Code – This is something that I have been pondering too, as I had lots of blank stares when I first started in Road Safety. I use the GCC term loosely and more with adults.
Personally, I don’t think of the 70’s GCC man/boy, but the Green Person light, telling us it’s safe to cross. If anyone asks about GCC – this is what I mention.
When talking to children about road safety, I now ask what they know about road safety, not GCC, and then focus on Stop Look Listen Think, and base everything around this.
I’m interested to hear what other people think about the Green Cross Code.I have been in Hackney for 5 years and we have always used Stop, Look, Listen and think (using some great resources on the Think website). The only time I refer to the GCC is when I talk to them about my youth and how the same messages are important to them. I find not even the teachers know who the GCC man is these days!
Using S,L,L & T, we adapt the messages to the ages and point out you are never too old for it.Good grief Gill – you’ve returned to the fold, good to see. We also use Stop, Look, Listen with the addition of stand back between the Stop and Look, to avoid people getting clouted by bus and HGV mirrors etc. I give out a bookmark with simple graphics to anyone interested – with S,SB,L, L symbols one side and distraction/visibility etc info the other side. Works well with Uni students and most – don’t get littered post events as far as I’ve experienced. I’m just updating for the college/Uni return – let me know if interested. Our Child Ped trainers – still got limited programme in primary – use similar.
Trust all well with you.
Keith – Matt’s moved on to higher things!I do touch on the Green Cross Code when I am speaking to year 7 students as it is still relevant. Of course none of them have heard of and neither have many of the teachers who are younger than some of my T-shirts!
I recently attended a road safety conference in London where I said that we should bring back tv commercials based around the fatal 4 and crossing the road. I still remember all the adverts from growing up in the 70’s; Charlie Says, The Green Cross Code Man etc, those messages stuck because they were so prevalent. The head of the AA shut me down and said no-one watches TV anymore and if its not online then it won’t be seen.
Had a similar conversation yesterday on an equine forum around people not knowing about the changes to the highway code around vulnerable road users. Again, very little TV coverage and the majority of the people that the horse riders were complaining about were van drivers and older drivers, the latter of which may not have online access and be totally unaware of the recent changes to the HC.
Sorry, hijacked the post there! Yes, I do use the Green Cross Code in my inputs, its relevant, easy to understand and hopefully it sticks.
Although I used to refer to the green cross code when I became a Road Safety Officer in 2002, back then I could refer to the hedgehog adverts which most had seen and ‘Arrive Alive’/’Tales of the Road’ booklets. Now we do not use such resources and the primary children that I work with tend to get their information from Youtube and TikTok so TGCC unheard of. My own young children love watching the videos that I grew up with in the 1970’s.
Perhaps another issue is that we need to emphasise that Green does not mean go, but as mentioned, stop, look, (lesser so – listen) and think. With amber gamblers and red light runners, think the Green Cross Code may be too simplistic.
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