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ROAD ACCIDENTS SCOTLAND 1999

REPORTS OF THE RESULTS OF THE ROAD SAFETY RESEARCH PROJECTS WHICH WERE COMMISSIONED BY THE SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE (FORMERLY THE SCOTTISH OFFICE)

The Scottish Executive Central Research Unit publishes a series of reports and research summaries based on road safety research which has been commissioned by the Department. Those published since the start of 1999 are described briefly below. The Reports may be purchased from:

The Stationery Office Bookshop
71 Lothian Road
Edinburgh EH3 9AZ
Tel: 0131 622 7050
FAX: 0131 622 7017

Cheques (made payable to "The Stationery Office") should be submitted with orders.

For each research project described or listed below (with the exception of "Review of the Scottish Office Road Safety Research Programme 1989-97", "Research on Walking" and "Review of Safer Routes to School in Scotland"), copies of the Research Findings (a short paper which sets out the main findings), can be obtained, free on request, from:

The Scottish Executive Central Research Unit
Area 2J
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh EH6 6QQ
Tel: 0131-244 7560

Information about the reports published between January 1989 and August 1997 is given in:

• "Review of The Scottish Office Road Safety Research Programme 1989-97": 1997 Price £ 2.50

The following reports were published between September 1997 and the end of 1999:

• "The Deterrent Effects of Enforcement in Road Safety": 1997 Price £ 5.00
• "Impact of the Road Network on Scotland’s Accident Rates": 1997 Price £ 7.50
• "The Effectiveness of Leaflets in Road Safety" 1998 Price £5.00
• "Seat Belt Wearing in Scotland - A Study on Compliance": 1998 Price £5.00
• "Alcohol and the Pedestrian Road Casualty": 1998 Price £5.00
• "The Older Child Pedestrian Casualty": 1998 Price £5.00
• "The Young Teenager and Road Safety: A Qualitative Study": 1998 Price £5.00
• "Evaluation of Road Safety Workbook Diaries": 1998 Price £5.00

"Road Accidents Scotland 1998" includes a brief description of each of these reports.

Research Reports published since the start of 1999:

"Research on Walking"

As part of a research project on walking patterns and attitudes to walking in Scotland, over 600 households representative of Scotland were asked about their children’s travel patterns to school. The majority of children (58%) lived within a mile of their school; 63% walked to school, 21% travelled by bus or train and 15% by car. Primary school children were more likely to walk (68%) than secondary (54%). The main reason given for children walking to school was that it was the most convenient way of getting there (71%), and reasons for not walking were that it was too far (66%), concern about personal safety (13%), concern about road safety (13%) and time pressures in the morning (11%). The action cited as being most likely to encourage children to walk to school was a special ‘Safe Route to School’.
1999 Price £5.00

"An Evaluation of the Children’s Traffic Club in Scotland"

In November 1995 the Scottish Road Safety Campaign launched the Children’s Traffic Club in Scotland. The Traffic Club materials help parents and carers to teach pre-school children to be safe when out and about. An Evaluation of the Club was commissioned to assess how the Traffic Club has affected parents/carers and children in terms of road safety behaviour and attitudes. Findings showed that membership of the Club in 1999 comprised 62% of eligible of children (71% in higher income and 53% in lower income families). Safety gains included: more parents/carers had taught their child to hold hands when crossing the road and how to cross a road; more had taught their child road safety by going through books with them; more children knew that they needed to think before crossing a road; more parents/carers always got their children out of a car on the pavement side; more were likely to use protected crossings if they existed on the child’s route to school; and among children who went out in the dark, a higher proportion now wore reflective clothing.
1999 Price £5.00

"Review of Safer Routes to School in Scotland"

This review was commissioned to establish the extent of safer routes to school in Scotland, to learn from the experience of SRTS practitioners and to identify good practice. The review resulted in a Guide on how to run a Safer Route to School which was sent to every school in Scotland. The review found that 16 of the 32 councils in Scotland had active SRTS projects with 89 projects underway. Overall, those who had safer routes to school projects considered that the presence of vehicles in the vicinity of the school is the major concern and that improving safety and accessibility for walkers was the main aim, particularly for children crossing busy roads.
1999 Price £5.00

"Road Accidents and Children Living in Disadvantaged Areas"

A literature review was commissioned to explore the reasons underlying the higher incidence of child pedestrian accidents occurring in deprived or disadvantaged areas. Main findings included: the risk of death for child pedestrians is highly class related — children in the lowest socio-economic group are over 4 times more likely to be killed as pedestrians than their counterparts in the highest socio-economic group; the decline in child death rates from injury in road accidents over time has been less for children in the manual social classes than for children in non-manual social classes; injuries to child pedestrian casualties from socio-economically disadvantaged families tend to be of greater severity; the risk of pedestrian injury is over 50% higher for the children of single mothers compared with those in two parent families; restricted access to play space and proximity of housing to busy roads compounded by lack of supervision in younger children appear to exacerbate road accident rates in disadvantaged areas.
2000 Price £5.00

"The Role of Information and Communications Technology in Road Safety Education"

The Scottish Road Safety Campaign promotes road safety education in schools and has developed a range of resources for use by teachers and pupils including the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Research was commissioned to explore the potential of ICT as a means of teaching road safety, to compare the extent of its use with the more traditional road safety education formats, and to evaluate its potential as a future road safety education source. The study found that 17% of respondents in primary schools and only 7% of respondents in secondary reported using ICT in road safety education. Pupils, teachers and Road Safety Officers were in favour of the use of ICT as a medium for road safety education, and it was considered that ICT has a future in road safety education, with developments now taking place to cater for a wide range of user groups.
2000 Price £5.00

"Road Safety Education in the Scottish Curriculum"

Research was commissioned to assess the current state of road safety education in Scottish schools, the key stakeholders’ views on road safety education and the factors which affects it delivery. The results of the research assisted in developing a strategy for the Scottish Road Safety Campaign to provide a more equitable and consistent promotion and delivery of road safety education in Scottish schools. Main findings and recommendations of the research include: the extent to which road safety education features in the school curriculum relies mainly on the interest and commitment of the head and class teachers rather than formal guidelines; while there are examples of good practice, road safety education is often repetitive and non-developmental throughout the child’s school life; road safety education should be a clear part of an overall programme of personal safety education, fitting within the schools’ Personal and Social Development curriculum; to make the most effective use of a Road Safety Unit’s resources, less time by Road Safety Officers should be devoted to direct provision and more to support and advisory roles.
2000 Price £5.00

"Evaluation of Scottish Road Safety Campaign Travel Packs"

One of the Scottish Road Safety Campaign’s resources is the children’s ‘travel pack’ introduced in 1995 and revised in 1999. The pack consists of 2 booklets — the Highway Code for Young Road Users and the Journey Activity Book — and an audiotape, competition postcard and pen. Research was commissioned to establish the extent of use of the travel pack among the target audience of children aged 8-10 and to gather children’s and parents views on its contents. The study found that the majority of children liked the travel pack and that the item favoured by most of the children was the audiotape. Parents indicated that use of the items had some longevity, although some agreed that certain items were incorrectly targeted — eg a few mentioned that some of the puzzles were too difficult for the younger children. The travel pack was found to have prompted recall of road safety messages and parents regarded the travel pack as a valuable resource, approaching road safety education from a different angle. Parents and children agreed that the pack encouraged children to have fun and learn at the same time.
2000 Price £5.00

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