CHILD PEDESTRIAN SAFETY CAMPAIGN

Focus and Objective
It was noted that on an average, three children are killed on our nation’s streets each month. That intolerably high fatality figure was reflected in statistics compiled by the police traffic division and analyzed by the Road Safety Unit. Child pedestrians represented the most vulnerable group of road users. In seeking to address the situation the Unit felt that the Road Safety Guidebook project, which saw the printing of 276,000 guidebooks for children between the ages 5-9 at Primary level schools, was one means of doing this. It was felt that with proper application and assimilation of the material, some positive results would be forthcoming. In tandem with this drive at the school level however, there was need for a programme to be instituted at the national level to focus popular attention on the issue and to co-opt support from governmental and non-governmental organizations for a more concentrated approach to this problem.

Given the nature of the phenomenon and based on the impressionable age of the immediate target audience, it was felt that a reduction of these fatalities by at least 15% in 3 years would be an achievable goal.

Audience
The immediate target was children ages 5-9 in primary and all age schools across the island. Since the proposed campaign would be driven through the Primary level schools, teachers of students at the selected grade level were also being targeted. Much of the literature and training to be presented under this proposal was heavily dependent on teacher input. Parents of the selected students were also considered an important group for reinforcement of the road safety message.

Message
A theme was established for the campaign “….For The Children” and was carried through in all the messages designed