Children's road safety and the strategy of voluntary traffic safety clubs

Abstract

This study focuses on the problem of traffic safety among children and the effectiveness of voluntary traffic clubs. General doubts are growing in regard to this traditional strategy of teaching and training children how to act in specific traffic situations. It has been shown that their knowledge and behavior improve, but the effect on accident risk is not clear. In this study, one model for traditional teaching of this type, a voluntary traffic safety club for children, is evaluated in terms of accident risk. The data have been collected through questionnaires to members and nonmembers of the club. Approximately 20% of Swedish children are members of the club. The results show that members do not have a lower accident risk than nonmembers. On the contrary, the risk in this nonexperimental study is found to be higher among members. The use of safety equipment is, however, higher among members. The results are discussed in terms of systematic differences between the groups, i.e. socioeconomics, and in terms of the possibility that the general strategy of the club leads to overestimation of the safety effects.