List Archives

Fri Sep 19 22:55:31 BST 2008

Dear Dave and Gustav and list,

A few years ago I put together a road safety program with elements for
children from 5 years up to learning to drive age.  It contains road safety
agreements for children and parents and teachers, children and parents and
for peer groups - different ones for different age groups.  Each is
potentially customisable for local use.  They are available for download
from www.roads2survival.com or www.roads2survival.com.au  There is no cost
to use the program and the downloads are free.  While the program comes from
Australia it was designed to be used anywhere and thousands of the
agreements have been downloaded by people around from the world.
Unfortunately at this stage due to my lack of ability in other languages the
agreements are only in English.  

There are a number of similar sites for teenage driving agreements/contracts
around the world which can be found with a Google search (try "road safety
agreements", "road safety contracts" or "safe driving agreements" or
similar).

The agreements can also make a good back end for a road safety awareness
program.  We have an Australian one run by our Fire Services which is called
RAAP (Road Awareness and Accident Prevention).  More information is
available on this program here
(http://www.samfs.sa.gov.au/community/raap.asp).  I believe that these sort
of programs are a great way for EMTs and emergency service workers to
contribute to child / youth road safety.  In my home state version of this,
Roads 2 Survival agreements are given to the students to take home and
discuss with their parents at the end of a fairly intense day.  Even if they
don't sign them just discussing the issues at home may be helpful and pay a
dividend later.

In recent times a "Road Rangers" concept has been developed. This is aimed
at younger children, just starting school, and has generated a lot of
interest.  It has been taken up by some Australian local government areas to
use in their schools. One of these developed "Road Ranger Team Cards" and
badges for the "Road Rangers" to carry and wear.  A paper presented at the
2006 Australian Safe Roads conference is on the web and available at
http://www.saferoadsconference.com/2006/papers/Kate%20Gibson%20-%20Saferoads
%202006%20School%20drop-off%20&%20pick-up%20Pro.pdf 

The idea behind this is that learning about driving behaviour probably
begins when a child first begins to spend regular time in a car which is
usually when they begin school.  It is also a time when the drivers of those
cars may be stressed as they try to do drop-offs and pick-ups in amongst a
lot of other vehicles and sometimes under time pressure.  This can lead to
bad behaviour which the child sees.  The agreements remind the parents about
this and give the child the "responsibility" to ask his/her parents about
their driving.  It is also around the time of the start of their experiences
as a pedestrian and cyclist.  The idea is the child becomes a "Road Ranger"
with a responsibility to consider road safety whenever he/she is near a
road.  It has a focus on pedestrian and cycle safety but also driver
behaviour.  The "Road Ranger" may ask Dad why he is driving faster than the
speed limit ;)

The theory is that if there is a focus on road safety from a young age
rather than starting with the teenage years, maybe it could be possible to
create some generational change in driving attitudes?  I do not have any
randomised controlled data to show that any of this actually works, but I
figure that it cannot hurt to try.  IT makes me feel better to be trying
something.  I am sick of seeing badly injured young people in our
resuscitation rooms.

Perhaps the same principles can also be applied to other forms of trauma?
We have also begun discussing using "Fire Rangers"  for child fire safety
and "Water Rangers" for child swimming and water safety. 

I am more than happy for anyone to take on using this program in their own
local area/region or for people to use it as individuals.  Please feel free
to download anything from the site or to email me directly if you have any
questions.

Regards

Bill

A/Prof William Griggs AM
Director
Trauma Service
Royal Adelaide Hospital
wgriggs at bigpond.net.au

-----Original Message-----
From: Reinehr, Gustav [mailto:reinehr.gustav at gmail.com] 
Sent: Friday, 19 September 2008 07:54
To: Trauma &amp; Critical Care mailing list
Subject: Re: Trauma prevention program

I'd like this information too.

Gustav Reinehr.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Sullivan" <fpcems at yahoo.com>
To: "Trauma &amp; Critical Care mailing list" <trauma-list at trauma.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2008 6:44 PM
Subject: Trauma prevention program

Hello All,

I was wondering if anyone would be able to point me in the direction of 
starting a youth trauma prevention program for middle school students and 
up. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

dave sullivan BA NREMT-P

--
trauma-list : TRAUMA.ORG
To change your settings or unsubscribe visit:
http://www.trauma.org/index.php?/community/ 

List Archives

For your convenience, find the Trauma List Archive Below

Trauma prevention program - Roads 2 Survival