Be Safe Be Seen

I have to admit I do like the dark nights, being cosy in the house with a good book. I love the fresh, crisp mornings. Autumn is my favourite time of the year. But, with the dark nights upon us, I am constantly worried about my children being seen when near and crossing roads. It’s time to remind our children about the extra dangers of the dark nights and to be safe, be seen. We have reflective badges and I think these make a big difference with the car light reflecting off them. They may not see the child, but they know something is there and to be careful.

The Co-Op Funeral Care are with us on wanting to help teach our children to be safe be seen in the dark months ahead. They have been going around schools and educating our children, along with giving out reflective badges to help them stay safe and be seen. I think this is an excellent initiative and one I fully support.

Only last night, I was picking up my boys from one of their clubs. I was also picking up a friends boy. It was dark and it was wet. We had to cross the grass to get to the car park where we were parked. The boy I was taking home ran straight onto the middle of the car park, without looking. It was dark and I screamed at him. I got a fright and could see a car heading toward him. Thankfully he stopped and the car was going slowly enough that no damage was done. But, I got a fright and so did he. I felt terrible for shouting at someone else’s child, but danger was imminent. This brought home to me how important it is to reiterate road safe and the be safe be seen campaign with my children. How do you educate your children on this important issue?

Amazingly over the past 5 years the Co-op Funeral Care have given out over 160,000 badges to 1,500 schools and youth groups. They also deliver school assemblies or lessons about road safety which are prepared by road safety charity Brake for children between the ages of 3 and 7 years.

To keep our children safe we need to:-

Looking out for and encouraging your children to be aware of hidden entrances or driveways when crossing pavements.
Making sure your children walk on the side of pavements away from the traffic.
When crossing the road your child should always choose a safe place and time to cross. It’s always safer to cross at a pedestrian or patrolled crossing.
Avoid crossing between parked cars as drivers won’t be able to see children who do this very well.
It’s important to stop at the curb, look both ways and listen to traffic before crossing. Pedestrian crossings can still be dangerous if care is not taken.
All pedestrians should wait on the pavement until all the traffic from both directions has stopped as this is the safest time to cross. Islands are often provided in the middle of the road, so children should treat each half as a separate crossing.
Children should avoid playing near busy roads as they can often forget their surroundings and become unaware of the dangers on the road.

If you would like to know more about the Be Safe Be Seen campaign, then please contact your local Co-operative Funeral Care

Disclaimer:- This is a featured post, but all stories are my own.