CHILDREN'S TRAFFIC ENVIRONMENT AND ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

The principal aim of the the study is to investigate how children and adults experience and interpret children's traffic environment and traffic safety. Interviews have been carried out with 90 children aged 8, 11 and 14. The children's parents have answered a questionnnaire, and the children's schoolteachers have been interviewed on their views on the children's traffic environment and on road safety education. The results clearly demonstrate different living conditions with regard to traffic safety for those children living in traffic-segregated areas in comparison with those in traffic-integrated areas. Increased traffic and the expansion of the road system has led to relentless competition with children's play areas and the roads they take to school and use in their leisure time. It is very clear that society completely ignores children's needs and safety when conflicting interests arise. For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 866319.