Safe, active travel is encouraged by the department to help develop positive attitudes towards health and safety. Walking to and from school helps ease traffic congestion, promotes physical activity and provides a great opportunity to talk about being a safe road user.

As parking around schools is becoming harder schools can encourage parents and carers to walk with their child/ren to and from school or park further from the school and walk the rest of the way.

Every school's surrounding traffic environment is different. Every school's entry and exit rules for students are different and are therefore managed differently.

Parents and carers are encouraged to:

• give their child lots of supervised practice in the traffic environment.
• teach their child about being alert in a road environment.
• always hold their child's hand up to the age of at least 8 years old, when on the footpath, crossing the road or in a carpark
• explain why the place they’ve chosen is the safest place to cross the road.
• point out dangers, such as vehicles coming out of driveways.
• use pedestrian crossings and traffic lights correctly.
• teach their child to keep turning their head in both directions to look and listen for traffic as they cross the road.
• explain why they should look and listen before crossing a driveway, road or carpark.
• reinforce Stop! Look! Listen! Think! every time you cross the road together

STOP! one step back from the kerb.

LOOK! continuously look both ways.

LISTEN! for the sounds of approaching traffic.

THINK! whether it is safe to cross.

• observe if older children are ready to cross the road independently.

Schools can support this event with consistent road safety messages about safe travel to and from school.