Child safety away from home

The first place to start when thinking about and teaching road safety is to lead by example.

Children will copy what they see you doing. When crossing a road you should make it obvious you have stopped and checked it is safe first. CAPT have useful information on:

• Introducing younger children to pedestrian safety
• Helping older children to think about road safety
• Being visible as a pedestrian

Brake has tips for prams and pushchairs safely on or near roads. These include:

• Make sure your child is strapped in safely. Keep the pram away from the edge of the road when you are waiting to cross.
• Use a wrist strap when walking on a hill. If you accidentally let go the strap will stop the pram from rolling away.
• If you also have an older child with you, teach them to hold on to the pram.

For further general pushchair safety, take a look at the babycentre website. They have a list of things to check to make sure your pushchair is safe.

The Child Accident Prevention Trust say you can start to teach the Green Cross Code from around five years old. The Green Cross Code has 6 simple steps to ensure you cross the road safely:

1. Think
2. Stop
3. Look
4. Wait
5. Look and listen again
6. Arrive alive

Take a look at the Green Cross Code to understand each step in more detail.

Zebras is a website for children to find out more about road safety. It includes:

• Videos and games
• Activity and colouring sheets
• Stores