About Us

The Early Childhood Road Safety Education Program is part of the RTA's Youth, Community and Education Program and is a partnership between the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) and Macquarie University.

Program Mission

Our mission is to achieve improvements in young children's safety in the short term and develop safe community attitudes to road use in the long term by.

• increasing awareness of the need for road safety education for children and their families

• fostering developmentally appropriate practices for the delivery of road safety education with children's services staff and tertiary early childhood students

• ensuring that young children are given consistent road safety messages by both early childhood staff and families.

Philosophical Guidelines

The philosophical guidelines underpinning our work include:

• responding to individual differences in the developmental pathways of young children

• acknowledging and supporting the different learning styles of young children

• supporting the establishment of partnerships with families

• recognising the uniqueness of local communities

• respecting social and cultural diversity.

Role

We work across a number of sectors to provide professional development workshops, road safety education information, resources, road safety strategies and advice including:

• Staff and families in children services

• Universities, TAFE Colleges and other Accredited Training Organisations

• Local Government (including Road Safety Officers)

• Health and family support services

• Other peak early childhood and road safety organisations.

We can help you by

• Helping you plan and implement a road safety education program at your service.
• Sharing new ideas for using Kids & Traffic resources with children.
• Suggesting new ways of sharing the Key Road Safety Messages with families.
• Advising on specific road safety concerns your service may have.
• Keeping you up to date about early childhood road safety.
• Helping you develop or review your road safety policies to include safe arrivals and departures, driveway safety, passenger and pedestrian safety, safe play and safe excursions.
• Including your suggestions in the Kids and Traffic Gazette and website (www.kidsandtraffic.mq.edu.au).
  Ring us on 02 9850 4700 and let us know what you would like us to include.
• Suggesting useful resources and ideas to help you promote road safety at your service.
• Answering any questions that staff, families or management may have about road safety for children.
• Suggesting ways to address QIAS and FDCQA principles through road safety education.
• Helping you make road safety education fun for staff to deliver, for children to learn and families to share.

Our team is:

Program Director
Maureen Fegan

General Enquiries
telephone 02 9850 4700

Road Safety Education Consultants - Full time
Louise Cosgrove (job share)
Linda Harrison (job share)
Cherie Marshall
Laura Stone

Part time
Adrienne Beattie
Kim Flack
Amanda Niland
Suzanne Snowball

Copyright 2006 Macquarie University