Walking to school or to other areas in the community is an excellent way to integrate physical activity into a child's daily life. However, children are at a high risk for pedestrian related injuries. Inform your clients that educating their children about pedestrian safety should begin at a young age and continue until they are in their early teens. Educating their child about pedestrian safety should also match their stage of development.

Key Messages

• Young children should always be accompanied by an adult when crossing the street.
• Younger children usually don't have the cognitive and physical skills to make safe judgments about road crossing and traffic.
• A child’s ability to cross safely by themselves is based on their stage of development. A child should demonstrate and know how to use cross walks and judge traffic. Encourage parents to visit the Parachute website to more about How to teach pedestrian safety to your child.
• Advise your clients to teach their children the rules of the road
  • stop before stepping onto the road
  • look left, right, and left again
  • listen for traffic before steeping out into the street
  • Make sure they learn to wait until the road is clear
• Remind your clients to teach and model pedestrian safety skills (e.g., walking on the sidewalk and crossing at marked intersections) as soon as their child can walk.

Encourage clients to visit MyHealth.Alberta.ca to learn more about how to teach pedestrian safety, and how their child can be safe around vehicles like school busses.