Transport minister Sarah Boyack, speaking at Pollok Children's Centre in Glasgow, emphasised the Executive's policy of starting road safety at an early age. An accompanying advertising campaign aims to reach more families from disadvantaged areas. It will be situated at bus routes and supermarkets in areas where membership of the Children's Traffic Club Scotland is low, urging nurseries, parents and children to get involved.
The Executive aims to reduce by half the number of child road casualties by 2010. Ms Boyack said, 'The Executive is committed to improving road safety and cutting the number of children killed or injured on our roads each year.
'We are already making great progress, and research shows that the Children's Traffic Club Scotland is having a positive impact. But we cannot afford to be complacent. I want to see more youngsters across Scotland reaping the benefits of the scheme, particularly in disadvantaged areas where child pedestrians are statistically more likely to be involved in a traffic accident. Social justice lies at the heart of our policies and we must ensure that regardless of where a child lives, they learn how to stay safe on the roads.'
The traffic club was launched by the Scottish Road Safety Campaign in 1995. It offers free road safety materials to all three-and four-year-olds throughout Scotland. The new nursery pack, which takes into account the curriculum framework for three-to five-year-olds, includes a guide, storybook, colouring templates, song/story tape, height chart, alphabet chart, parents' card and discussion posters to help childcarers teach relevant road safety topics.
The updated road safety pack will be distributed to nurseries and playgroups by local road safety units, and is available from the Scottish Road Safety Campaign on 0131 472 9200.