HEY (Health Early Years) road safety pilot (evaluation report)

Historically, childcare providers have found it difficult to source appropriate activities to introduce road safety to very young children. An opportunity arose to address this issue through the roll out of the Healthy Early Years (HEY) Project.

Bath and North East Somerset Council has developed and evaluated a road safety initiative for young children. The pilot was successful in providing a long-term approach to positive road safety messages through settings for children aged 3-4 and their parents/carers. Two teams from Bath and North East Somerset Council combined forces to develop a high quality road safety package to be delivered to young children, as part of the HEY Project. The teams were the Traffic and Safety Team
(T&S, directorate of Service Delivery) and the Early Years Foundation Stage Team (EY, directorate of Children’s Services). The aim of the pilot project was to inform setting staff, children and their parents/carers. All three groups were evaluated and the results are favourable.

After the initiative children and some parents had a greater awareness of appropriate road safety messages. Setting staff were pleased to be able to have a structure for delivering road safety information.

Settings are now clear on appropriate road safety messages, they have guidance on how to deliver such messages for families, enabling families to repeat the messages at home. Online facilities exist which can be accessed free of charge and at any time of day or night. Hard copies of information are also available for carers. However, some interactive elements only exist online, and can only be accessed in the home by those families with the internet and a computer. Not all settings have online facilities within their facility, though the vast majority of staff did have access to the internet at home.

Activities have a strong practical element. This project can also be adopted by Reception classes in primary schools which would give children a solid grounding in road safety which will be built upon as they progress through their school years.