A Guide To Safety City



Lesson Title: "Be Street-Wise"

Level: K - 3

Objectives: After completing this lesson, children will have the knowledge and skill to:

1) Decide where it is safe to cross the street;

2) Stop and search for traffic dangers;

3) Activate traffic control devices;

4) Carefully follow traffic control directives

Time Frame: 30 minutes

Materials:

The Safety City intersection will be used predominately for this lesson. Other materials necessary are common street signs, traffic control graphics, examples of pavement markings,

Video(s):

"Crossing the Street" and "Model Intersections" from the FTBSEP.

Activity(s):

1) Children will practice and develop skill recognizing traffic control graphics and pavement markings and determining what they mean. This activity can be done using pictures or utilizing computer graphics projected onto the classroom screen.

2) Children will conduct practice street crossing and traffic control device activation outside in the Safety City intersection.

Assessment(s):

Children will receive a pre-quiz to determine knowledge about the safety aspects of crossing busy streets, administered by the classroom teacher. A post-quiz will be given at the conclusion of this lesson, consisting of the same material, only re-arranged. Other skills will be assessed by the instructor, via children's participation, cooperation and willingness.

Background Info:

Children and traffic is a deadly mix. In fact, nearly 1 child in 4 between the ages of 5 and 9 years of age were killed in pedestrian-related traffic crashes in 2000. This kind of accident remains the 2nd leading cause of death for children ages 5 to 141. In addition, child pedestrian injuries are usually very serious or deadly. It is estimated that 25,000 children are injured each year in pedestrian accidents involving motor vehicles. There are a number of factors that contribute to this unfortunate statistic, most of which are related to the developmental stage of the child:

1) They cannot judge speed and distance of moving objects accurately;

2) They cannot localize traffic sounds accurately;

3) They have a lower perception of traffic dangers than adults have;

4) They are slower to react to dangerous situations than adults;

This lack of cognitive ability, coupled with developing motor skills make children easy targets when they try to negotiate street crossings and get involved in the traffic mix. What can be done to reduce the injuries and fatalities that occur every year? It is advisable that children under 10 years of age not try to navigate busy streets and intersections without an adult for supervision. By age 10, they have a better chance of avoiding a collision, but nothing can substitute for proper traffic safety training.

Pre-Teaching:

Teachers will have the opportunity to introduce the subject matter prior to their visit, through exercises and/or video from the Risk Watch curriculum, or from Gainesville Fire Rescue.

Lesson Introduction:

A child's first step toward independence is just that, a step. The ability to walk is the ability to travel, and traveling for the inquisitive child is an important way to learn about their environment. But this journey is a dangerous one, since cars, trucks and buses are the main mode of travel for the rest of the world. When children venture out onto streets, sidewalks, parking lots and driveways, they are at risk for being hit or killed. Even with traffic control devices, road signs, crosswalks and careful drivers, too many children pay the price for their curiosity. With proper education, children can be made aware of the dangers posed to them when they walk to school, to a friend's house, or across a busy street or parking lot. Armed with this knowledge and skill, children can safely navigate through the busy traffic mix that is a component of almost any suburban setting today. This lesson will teach children the safe way to maneuver across busy streets, and how to take advantage of traffic control devices and the measure of safety they offer.

1 National SAFE KIDS Campaign, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., Ste. 1000, Washington, DC 20004

Key Concept 1: Where Do I Cross the Street?

Key Idea:

Children need to know the safest place to cross busy streets

Key Questions:

How many of you have crossed a busy street before? (Show of hands, most should have done it) How did you get across safely? What did you do? (Responses should be they waited for the sign to flash WALK, looked and waited for the way to be clear, etc.) Did you have anyone with you? One of your parents? A relative? OK, let's talk about how to safely cross a street. Where do you think is the SAFEST place to cross a street? Let me give you a hint - you usually see these things (show pictures of traffic lights and WALK/DON'T WALK signs and painted crosswalks). Do you know what we call that? It's where two or more roads come together. We call that an INTERSECTION. An INTERSECTION is usually on the CORNER of the street. We have one right out in Safety City that we'll be practicing on in just a short time. When you need to get to the other side of a busy road, it's safer to WAIT and walk to an intersection.

Why do you think it is safer to cross here? (Responses should be that the lights and signs stop the traffic so they can walk, drivers have to wait, because it's the law, etc.) Good. Traffic signals are there to help everyone share the road; cars, bicycles, trucks and people. Have you ever seen a police officer directing traffic at a busy intersection? That is what the traffic lights are doing - letting each line of traffic go when it's safe, and making others wait. When motorists approach an intersection, the traffic lights, signs and painting on the road tell them that this is a place where traffic going in different directions will meet, so they need to watch out and be careful.

Now, what about the painted lines on the road? Does anyone know what they're for? It looks like someone painted a path from one side of the road to another with white or yellow paint. Why do you think they would do that? Does anyone know what they're called? Good. A CROSSWALK. This is the "path" painted for you to safely cross the street. When you cross the street, you should walk inside the painted lines. The lines are painted on the road to guide you when you walk, AND to let cars and trucks know that this is part of the road for people, not vehicles.

Concept Review:

Where is the safest place to cross a busy street? What kinds of things are there to help you cross safely?

Key Concept 2: How Do I Cross the Street?

Key Idea:

Children can take advantage of signals and crosswalks to help them cross safely

Key Questions:

So, how do we cross at an intersection? What is there that can help us? Good. The traffic signal! How is it going to help us? Have you every noticed the pictures or the words that a traffic signal will flash at us across the street? What do they mean? Sometimes the word "WALK" will flash - Is it safe to cross then? YES. Make sure to look to the left and right before stepping off the curb into the street. How about if the "DON'T WALK" sign is flashing? Is it safe to cross? NO. There is traffic moving through the intersection, and you might get hit. How about traffic signal pictures? What kinds of pictures have you seen? If the traffic signal lights up a picture of a person walking, then it's safe to cross the street. This picture is usually bright white in color. If the walking person is red or flashing red, should we try to cross? NO. The red color means that traffic has the right of way, and you must stay on the curb where it's safe. Some of the traffic signals also use a picture of a big hand. Has anyone seen one of these? If it is safe to cross the street, the hand will light up a bright white. That means it's safe to cross the street. But if the hand is colored red, or is flashing red, that means it's too dangerous to cross, and you need to wait until you see the white hand signal again.

Now, what should you do if you want to cross a street without lights or traffic signals? What is the first thing to do? Remember how we talked about stopping at edges? Is the side of the road an edge? YES. So we stop, right? YES. Then what do we do? LOOK FOR DANGER. We want to look both ways down the street, to the LEFT and to the RIGHT, and keep looking LEFT and RIGHT as we cross. What should we do now? Can our EARS help us look for danger? YES. We can LISTEN. Do you hear any cars coming? Maybe the road goes around a bend, and we can't see very far, but we can LISTEN. Always use your ears when you are crossing a street. When you are sure there are no vehicles coming, WALK quickly across, looking left and right. DON'T RUN. You might slip and fall into the road and get hurt. That would be very dangerous!

Activity: "Traffic Crossing & Street Signals"

Concept Review:

What does the traffic signal show us when it's safe to cross the street? When it's not safe to cross the street? How can we cross a street without traffic signals safely?

Key Concept 3: Traffic Signals Need Us to Help Them Operate

Key Idea:

Children need to know how to activate the traffic signal to cross safely

Key Questions:

Here's another thing to remember: some traffic signals change automatically, just like traffic lights do. But most of them need to know if someone is waiting on the curb to cross the road. So what do you think they have built into the signal? A button! Has anyone noticed the buttons on the traffic signal poles? When you push the button, you are telling the traffic signal that you want to cross the street. The traffic signal will wait until it can stop traffic on that street, and then the signal will light up with a "walk" picture, so you can cross. We'll practice doing this in Safety City so you can see what we mean.

Concept Review:

How can we tell the traffic signal that we want to cross the street?

Lesson Summary:

Busy streets and moving traffic pose a significant risk to children during times of play, walking to or from school, or navigating on foot through their neighborhood. Children are at particular risk due to a lack of cognitive skills and abilities, their relatively small size, and their nature to dart and run after play items or each other without considering the dangers posed from the environment. Because of these mental and physical shortcomings, children need to be taught, and need to practice safe street crossings. In order to negotiate the traffic mix, children need to know how to use existing traffic control devices and to interpret what the symbols mean. This lesson is intended to teach children how to safely cross a street, with or without traffic control devices.

Follow-Up Activities:

1) Using graph paper or a street map, children can plot a "Safe Way to School"; a walking plan that takes advantage of low traffic areas and quiet streets for them to walk to school. The classroom teacher can act as advisor, to help coach them through the activity, and ask questions that promote critical thinking. If the city or county agree, children could paint arrows or markings to delineate the route.

2) Children could organize a Pedestrian Safety project, that would include the promotion of safe street crossing methods, essays and safety brochures developed and written by children, and posters that would include newspaper clippings and articles demonstrating the need for safe walking conditions in and around their school.

Evaluations/Assessments:

1) Children will be required to take a "Picture Quiz", with illustrations showing correct and incorrect behavior as it pertains to lesson objectives. Children need only circle the picture showing the correct behavior.

2) Approximately 2 - 4 weeks after they attend Safety City, teachers will be asked to "test" the children once again, to achieve a measure of retention. There will be instructions in the Teacher Packets on how to best re-visit this topic. Some options include: re-take of the Picture Quiz or giving the quiz verbally and recording average scores on a checklist. The teacher will be advised to review the material with the class before they administer the re-evaluation. The results will be sent to GFR as feedback and inclusion in reporting and statistical analysis.

Take-Aways:

1) For CHILDREN; an extensive goody bag containing coloring/activity/story books pertaining to the lesson, personalized Certificate of Achievement, healthy snacks, safety poster, "Be Cool" sunglasses, t-shirt, other related safety material FOR PARENTS TO READ, Safety City information and upcoming events or fun contests to enter. A GROUP PICTURE will be taken before the end of class.

2) For TEACHERS; topic-related review material for post-lesson assessment & mail-back, personalized Certificate of Achievement, Safety City schedule of events, follow-up activities/information, other safety-related material and a Letter to the Principal (explaining Safety City goals, objectives, accomplishments, background and invitation to join the supporting cast).

Attention Teacher:

There are many ways to prepare children for their educational experience at Safety City. Prior to the scheduled class, information about each lesson will be sent to the school in order for them to introduce the subject matter, familiarize children with Safety City, and briefly discuss the roles, responsibilities and ground rules for an enjoyable, "hands-on" learning experience.

For More Information:

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