POLISH INITIATIVES IN CHILDREN'S ROAD TRAFFIC SAFETY MASS MEDIA CAMPAIGNS DIRECTED AT ADULT ROAD USERS THE ROLE OF THE POLICE

In this paper it is stated that the number of accidents involving children over the past five years have been constantly rising in Poland. The actual blame for road accidents involving children must be placed on adults who failed to prepare those children for safe road traffic participation or who themselves were not sufficiently prepared. Because road traffic safety is a serious public problem in Poland, it is necessary to bring about a transformation of the public awareness to road safety. Guaranteeing the children's road safety has become one of the traffic police regular and priority tasks. It is also shown that attention to the question of road safety has been paid in the mass media, often in co-operation with the traffic police. The traffic police undertook efforts to introduce traffic education into the curriculum of primary schools. The media presented the significance and purpose of this programme not only to decision centres, but also to the general public. The initiatives and ventures presented in the paper are only a cursory overview of actions undertaken in Poland to improve the children's road safety. There is still much to do in this context on both a national and local level. For the covering abstract of the workshop see IRRD E200634.