Photographing local businesses - RAFT - East Herts

I’m not sure what I expected? Probably something based on the old road safety classes I did at school 30 years ago based on the way I wrapped my two boys up on this chilly November day. I imagined them stopping at a chalk line and crossing in a straight line across a fake road.

In reality, the class I photographed was set up more like any pre-school class. There were 3 activity areas, and Laura lead the first part of the class with some educating, singing, and musical statues to “twinkle, twinkle, traffic lights”.

The second two groups were driving in between some cones holding a steering wheel and stopping at a stop/go sign held by a parent. And lastly, crossing a road utilising the skills they’d learnt – stopping, listening, looking, and holding an adult’s hand – to deliver the letter to Santa into a post-box.

However, on the drive home, I asked my sons what they had learned? My eldest said “nothing I didn’t already know” (and the youngest copied), but when I probed “what did she teach you that you already knew?” He began to reel off all the lessons - stopping if a car has a green light, listening for traffic, always holding an adult’s hand. This may not seem particularly phenomenal if you have a child who talks about their day, but my son doesn’t. 

For an entire year at pre-school, when I asked about his day, he’d reply “I was digging”. When I ask him daily what he’s done at school he says “nothing”, “I don’t know” or “I can’t remember”. For him to reel off details about anything is pretty miraculous, so I will have to concede, that Laura’s class really got through to him.

Apart from the class itself, I really love the concept. I think road safety is an invaluable and vital skill when children are young. I loved how Laura reinforced the basic lessons and presented them in a different way aimed at this age group with interesting songs, crafts and activities.

In 2008 I took up a temporary post, as Senior Road Safety Officer, at a London Council after being made redundant. Before this moment, I knew little about Road Safety and had not really experienced being taught it aside from being shown a video of Hedgehog learning to cross the road! And knowing the Green Cross Code of course. What I learnt and was exposed to over the coming two years in post was a life changing experience . . . 

As a Senior Road Safety Officer involved in community project work and schools programmes, I met young people affected and disabled by road collisions and bereaved parents and siblings. It had a profound affect on me as an individual. Meeting those people who were living with life changing injuries and worst of all parents without their children, brothers and sisters growing up without their siblings. I also worked closely with the emergency services to build awareness of road safety and I can hand on heart say that they do a lot more than just a ‘job’, they save lives and try to re-build theirs after seeing such harrowing incidents. 

I feel privileged to have worked in Road Safety and been given the opportunity to do some amazing work with some truly inspirational people. 

In 2013 I became a parent to a wonderful little boy and safety, in particular road safety, started to play an important part in our daily family life. I wanted my son to have the freedom to run in the park but the understanding to hold my hand when we were at the shops or near roads. My newfound experience of being a parent, coupled with my time as a Primary Teacher and Senior Road Safety officer, led me to instinctively create Road Awareness For Toddlers. The only sensory course of it's kind devised for 2- 5 year olds delivering interactive and engaging road awareness sessions to parents, toddlers, pre-schoolers and 4 & 5 year olds. The primary aim of RAFT is to keep little ones safe, whilst building on their environmental awareness. 

Currently there are no road awareness or environment safety classes for this age group of children delivered in this unique and fun way. RAFT ensures that parents no longer have to wait until their children are school age (and often not until Year 2 or above - with increasingly limited resource spent on this area) to be taught the importance of road awareness and safety and how best to prevent accidents, when ‘bad habits’ may have already been formed. We take our children everywhere with us so it makes sense to teach them early on these vital life skills. They learn their phonics in nursery so why should they not be taught about their environment and how to be safe in it? In 2014, 2,412 children were killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads. Most of these casualties occurred whilst the child was out walking or cycling (source: RoSPA, The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents). 

‘Road Awareness For Toddlers’ is also about educating parents/careers and other child professionals. From teaching positive language, to creative thinking about relating to our environment, it has also made adults think about and evaluate their own road safety behaviour. 

If RAFT can build on everyone’s awareness of Road Safety, that can only be a positive outcome. Since launching I have made contact with several local people who have lost members of their family through a road traffic collision, sadly being children and also a young person.