Family-orientated road safety education at Fun 4 Kids Festival

03 Jul 2017

The importance of role modeling responsible driver behaviour for children will be a theme of the Transport Accident Commission’s presence at Warrnambool’s Fun 4 Kids Festival.

In a first-time partnership with the five-day school holiday festival, the TAC will put road safety education on a fun and family friendly platform from Wednesday 5 July to Sunday 9 July.

TAC representatives and road safety mascots Thingle Toodle and Zero Hero will be there to talk to parents and children about all things road safety.

TAC road safety manager Samantha Buckis said reaching out to parents of young children was an important step in shaping the behaviours and attitudes of the next generation of road users.

“Research shows there are significant correlations between parents’ driving behaviours, particularly anxious and aggressive styles, and those of their children a year after getting their license,” Ms Buckis said.

“Children learn more from our behaviour, and from an earlier age, than we might realise and how we drive can have a huge influence our children and the type of drivers they will be in the future.”

From 2012 to 2016, on average 21 per cent of all drivers killed Victorian roads were aged 18 to 25, despite that age group representing around 14 per cent of all licence holders.

Ms Buckis said positive role modelling by parents can influence the long-term driver behaviour and attitudes of their children, and contribute to a reduction in road trauma in young drivers.

“In their first year of driving, young Victorians are almost four times more likely to be involved in a fatal or serious injury crash than more experienced drivers.”

“Our research shows that young drivers are more likely to take risks on the roads and this - combined with inexperience – is a major reason for an over representation in young driver deaths.”

Ms Buckis said the Fun 4 Kids Festival will be a fun and entertaining way to educate parents and children of the role they can play in achieving a future where every journey on our roads is a safe one.

“Towards Zero defines our approach to a future free of deaths and serious injuries on our roads and we all have a role to play.”

“Fun 4 Kids is a very popular festival and a great platform for road safety education and, of course, we urge anyone traveling to the event to plan their journey, drive to the conditions, eliminate distractions and respect everyone else on the roads,” Ms Buckis said.