Scottish Government

CHAPTER TWO: BACKGROUND TO THE CTCS

2.1 ABOUT THE CTCS

The Children's Traffic Club in Scotland ( CTCS) was established in 1995 with the aim of developing key road safety awareness and skills in pre-school children. The CTCS aims to encourage parents and carers to educate their children about road safety through the provision of resources to those who register their children with the Club. Members of the Club receive six workbooks containing structured road safety activities for parents/carers and children to work through together. Membership of the CTCS is funded by the Scottish Executive and is therefore completely free of charge to members.

Every parent/carer is invited to register their child with the CTCS around their child's third birthday. The invitation is sent by post by Health Boards across Scotland, with the aim of ensuring that every three year old has the opportunity to join the Club.

2.2 DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN'S TRAFFIC CLUBS

The concept of Children's Traffic Clubs has been around for some time, with the first Clubs established in Sweden and Norway in the late 1960s and early 1970s ¹. In the early 1980s, the idea of establishing a Children's Traffic Club in the UK was explored by the Transport and Road Research Laboratory ( TRRL). In consultation with teachers and other professionals, the TRRL developed a series of workbooks for use with children between the ages of three and five.

Following testing and evaluation of these materials, the Greater London Council launched a Children's Traffic Club entitled 'Streetwise Kids' in 1985. In 1989, a Club was launched in Eastern England using funding provided through a sponsorship from General Accident plc. The materials designed by TRRL formed the basis of this Club, although the workbooks were further developed using illustrations provided by a commissioned designer - Dawn Boyfield Design Associates ( dbda).

By the early 1990s, when the Scottish Road Safety Campaign (now Road Safety Scotland) was exploring the potential of improving road safety education for pre school children, the Children's Traffic Club was already well established in the UK. The Scottish Road Safety Campaign therefore adopted the materials developed by TRRL and dbda, and launched the Children's Traffic Club in Scotland in 1995. The scheme is primarily administered by dbda, which is responsible for accepting registrations to the CTCS and distributing workbooks to parents and children.

2.3 CTC MATERIALS

dbda has produced a range of resources to assist parents and professionals in teaching children about road safety. The core resource, which comprises six workbooks, is sent out to families once they have registered with the Club. Each book is sent to the registered child at three-monthly intervals together with stickers, a membership certificate and a range of activities. The books use named balloons (Larry Look, Lucy Listen, Handy Hold etc.) to help children remember the key road safety messages.

The Early Steps pack also comprises six books, but has been developed for use with parents and children living in disadvantaged areas, or with learning difficulties, or those for whom English is not their first language. The resource is most commonly used with SureStart groups and contains a set of six small storybooks, sets of stickers, a colouring book (which can be photocopied), games and visual aids. The pack also contains five simple information sheets for parents or carers, which are available in 22 different languages.

A Childminders' Pack has also been developed, in partnership with the Scottish Childminding Association, in 1998/99. This pack was designed to encourage childminders to use CTCS materials with children, and contains a large number of colouring sheets, picture discussion cards, a song and story tape, stickers and a guide for childminders on road safety issues for young children. There is also a Nursery and Playgroup pack which contains the 'core' books along with a storybook, a song and story tape and a variety of visual aids. Health Visitor packs were first developed in 1996 and updated in 2001, and have more restricted contents than the other packs including a Health Visitor Guide, a sample copy of 'core' Book 1 and a supply of registration forms.

2.4 MEMBERSHIP OF THE CTCS

Across Scotland, the CTCS has an uptake level of just over 50 per cent of all parents/ carers of three year old children (based on 2005 figures). However, the proportion of children joining the Club has been falling on a gradual but steady basis since the scheme was first established.

Table 2.1: CTCS Uptake, 1998 - 2005

Source: Road Safety Scotland statistics

Since 1998, membership has fallen from almost 60 per cent to just over 50 per cent. In addition, there are significant variations in the level of membership of the CTCS across the country.

Table: 2.2: CTCS Uptake by Road Safety Unit, 2004

Source: Road Safety Scotland

Membership of the CTCS has fallen below 50 per cent in nine of the 22 Road Safety Unit areas, and is particularly low in Glasgow (43 per cent). While it is disappointing that a trend of declining membership has been identified over the past few years, the overall level of membership is broadly comparable with other Children's Traffic Clubs operating in the UK. For example, membership of the Children's Traffic Club operating in Eastern England averaged around 50 per cent when evaluated between 1990 and 1992, with some counties demonstrating lower membership levels of just 37 per cent ².

2.5 CTCS MEMBERSHIP AND SOCIAL DEPRIVATION

Although overall levels of membership of the CTCS are comparatively high, there is concern that membership varies considerably according to parents' socio-economic background. Research undertaken in 1998 identified that socio-economic status impacted significantly upon membership of the CTCS, with membership levels falling sharply amongst parents in the lowest socio-economic classifications.

Table 2.3: CTCS Membership by Socio-Economic Group

Source: Pre School Traffic Clubs, Murray, 1998

More recent research undertaken in 2002 identified a strong correlation between specific areas of concentrated deprivation, and low levels of CTCS membership ³:

"There is a clear correlation between deprived postcode areas and low uptake, with deprived postcode areas being at least three times more likely to have low uptake of the CTCS than more affluent areas."

This correlation is of particular concern due to the relationship between social exclusion and involvement in road accidents. Research has consistently shown that children living in areas of high social deprivation are more at risk of being involved in a road accident. In 2000, the Scottish Executive commissioned a review of the literature available on the relationship between child road accidents and disadvantage, and this study identified that:

"The risk of death for child pedestrians is highly class related. Children in the lowest socio-economic group are over four times more likely to be killed as pedestrians than their counterparts in the highest socio-economic group."⁴

Furthermore, the study found that, in addition to being more at risk of road accident, the injuries sustained by children in areas of high social deprivation tended to be of greater severity. Children of single parents were found to be the group most at risk of pedestrian accidents, with accident rates 50 per cent higher than children from two parent families.

This study also highlighted a number of potential reasons for this increased risk of involvement in a road accident. Firstly, children in areas of deprivation can have higher exposure rates as pedestrians, due to lower levels of car ownership and less adult supervision when travelling. Secondly, children could be at an educational disadvantage due to lack of guidance on road safety either at school or at home. However, the study suggested that there may also be area related factors to take into account. The physical environment in areas of high deprivation can often be more dangerous in terms of road layout, traffic volume and the location of key facilities and services.

The study also highlighted a number of other factors linked to social deprivation, which in turn may impact on road safety. Children in socially excluded areas can be more at risk of ill health, educational and behavioural problems and family breakdown, all of which may have a bearing on pedestrian behaviour and road safety awareness. The research concluded that, while it is clear that children in areas of high social deprivation are substantially more at risk of involvement in a road accident, it is not possible to disaggregate the household and area based factors which could influence this relationship.

2.6 PROMOTION OF THE CTCS

The CTCS is promoted primarily through Health Boards across Scotland. The Health Boards are responsible for sending out an individual postal invitation to each parent around the time of their child's third birthday. This arrangement has been set up using the 'Child Health Index' database which each Health Board has in place containing details of parent/carer addresses and information about the age of their children, enabling the Board to identify and make contact with parents/carers of three year olds.

Parents/carers are sent a registration form by the Health Board (in an eye catching bright yellow envelope) inviting them to join the Club. Interested parents and carers then complete a freepost reply card, which is returned to dbda - the organisation contracted by Road Safety Scotland to provide the CTCS workbook materials and administer the scheme. On receipt of the reply card, dbda are responsible for sending out the materials at three-monthly intervals. The majority of registrations for the club are made in response to this direct mailing by the Health Boards.

The Health Boards also assist in the promotion of the CTCS through Health Visitors, who have personal contact with three year old children and their parents or carers. A Health Visitors' Pack has been developed to enable staff to work with young children and promote the CTCS. The number of registrations generated by Health Visitors is not monitored.

Road Safety Scotland has also developed arrangements with other organisations to assist in the promotion of the CTCS. All nursery schools and playgroups in Scotland have been provided with a CTCS Nursery and Playgroup Pack which aims to build linkages between school and home based road safety education, and to promote the CTCS through these venues. The pack contains a guide for teachers, the core CTCS books, a storybook, song and story tape, registration forms and various posters and visual aids. The Pack was initially developed in 1996 shortly after the launch of the CTCS, and was updated and re-launched in 2001. The pack was distributed by Road Safety Officers along with CTCS registration forms, and nurseries and playgroups were asked to encourage parents and carers to register with the Club.

Analysis of registration figures indicates that nurseries and playgroups encouraged a total of 348 parents and carers to join the CTCS in 2004 - less than one per cent of all registrations made during that year. However, an evaluation of the Nursery and Playgroup Pack in 2002 ⁵ identified that while the majority of nurseries and playgroups had received the pack, the use of resources and promotion of the CTCS varied considerably amongst local authority area, and also individual nurseries. It is likely, therefore, that low levels of registrations reflect the ad hoc nature of this promotional method, rather than pointing to a failure in this type of approach.

Road Safety Officers across Scotland also promote the CTCS, with methods of promotion varying between areas. RSOs have acted as the main route for distribution, promotion and guidance on the Nursery and Playgroup Pack, and further promotional activity has taken place in most areas. The ways in which RSOs have promoted the CTCS locally are explored in more detail in Chapter Five.

The CTCS has also been promoted through advertising and media campaigns since it was launched in 1995. In its first year of operation, the Club was promoted intensively through three separate month long periods of television advertising. This was aimed at raising awareness of the CTCS for the initial launch period and was not continued after the first year.

Since then, approximately £10,000 per year has been dedicated to CTCS advertising with campaigns co-ordinated by the Scottish Executive Media and Communications team. Primarily, this has involved bus advertising and promotional stands at supermarkets.

The Scottish Road Safety Campaign has also ran a targeted campaign to promote the CTCS in socially excluded areas. Between May and November 2002, the SRSC ran a ' CTCS Superbus' campaign to raise awareness of the CTCS in low uptake and socially excluded areas. The 'Superbus' toured over 160 locations throughout Scotland providing publicity and information about the Club as well as the opportunity to register. This campaign was evaluated in 2003 and it was concluded that while the concept of a mobile resource unit promoting the CTCS was of value, the use of a bus was cost and time intensive, difficult to staff and created some safety concerns. It was recommended that instead greater use should be made of Road Safety Officers in promoting the CTCS locally, with the SRSC providing suitable promotional materials.

2.7 COST OF RUNNING THE CTCS

Road Safety Scotland primarily runs the CTCS through agreements with a range of organisations. Firstly, dbda is commissioned to provide the CTCS materials and administer the scheme. The first contract between the Scottish Road Safety Campaign and dbda was put in place in 1995, and the current contract runs for three years from April 2005 to March 2008.

There is a standard charge made by dbda, currently £13.95 per registered child. This covers the cost of sending out the six workbooks to each child. Charges are also made for registration forms and envelopes (50 pence per child) and reporting on membership levels on a six monthly basis (£5,000 per year). Support materials such as the Nursery and Playgroup Pack and the Health Visitor Pack are provided by dbda for a charge. For example, the Nursery and Playgroup Pack costs £28 and the Health Visitors Pack £9.60. This includes a 20 per cent discount which Road Safety Scotland receives on all support materials ordered, because it runs the CTCS on a national basis.

Secondly, Health Boards promote the CTCS through sending registration forms to all parents/carers of three year old children. The administration cost for distributing these forms is borne by the NHS, as CTCS promotion is seen to support the NHS aim to reduce road casualties. There is therefore no cost to Road Safety Scotland in distributing the registration forms.

Thirdly, the CTCS is promoted through the Scottish Executive's Media and Communications Group. In 2005 the budget for promotion was £10,000 with a further £3,000 to fund the CTCS 10 ^th Birthday Party held in November 2005.

In 2005/06 it will cost approximately £460,000 to run the CTCS, based on current uptake levels.

Table 2.4: 2005/06 Estimated Costs of CTCS

Source: Road Safety Scotland, 2005

In addition, Road Safety Scotland incurs costs internally in the administration of the scheme. There are no dedicated staff members responsible for the CTCS, but staff time is incurred in steering the direction of the Club in terms of promotion, facilitating the CTCS Working Group, co-ordinating research into the Club's effectiveness, and liaising with RSOs to ensure local promotion of the CTCS. A proportion of RSO time will also be dedicated to working with local nursery schools, playgroups and other key organisations to promote the CTCS.

2.8 PREVIOUS RESEARCH INTO THE CTCS

Since the establishment of the CTCS in 1995 there has been a strong focus on ongoing evaluation and monitoring the impact of the Club. Between 1995 and 1998, a longitudinal evaluation of the impact of the CTCS was undertaken. This research concluded that the CTCS had resulted in significant safety gains through modifying child and parent road behaviour and increasing educational activity at home. It recommended that this approach to pre school road safety education should be continued.

The research also touched upon the issues of social exclusion and adult literacy and the impact which these may have on CTCS membership levels and the use of the materials. It identified that once registered with the Club, "carers in low income families were no more and no less likely to use the books than carers in high income families". It suggested that "it may be that the registration process was one of the factors discouraging families from registering their children". ⁶

Since this intensive piece of research in the first three years of operation, there has been a series of evaluative studies commissioned into CTCS resources and promotional methods. In 2002, an evaluation of the revised Nursery and Playgroup Pack was undertaken ⁷. This evaluation identified that the content of the Pack was well regarded and recommended ways in which use of the Pack could be further promoted to nurseries and playgroups. With regard to membership, the research highlighted the valuable opportunities which nursery schools and playgroups had to encourage parents and carers to register their children with the CTCS and recommended that Road Safety Units work closely with these groups to ensure that membership of the CTCS was being encouraged.

In 2004, a similar evaluation of the Health Visitors' Pack concluded that Health Visitors simply did not have the time to use CTCS resources with children but were an extremely "valuable and unique resource for promoting the Children's Traffic Club in Scotland to all young children, including those from socially disadvantaged areas"⁸. This report recommended that the SRSC should further develop its relationships with Health Visitors across Scotland, with the primary purpose of ensuring that registration forms were distributed to parents and carers during health assessments and pre-school checks. It was recommended that the SRSC appoint a dedicated CTCS Co-ordinator to undertake this role.

Road Safety Scotland also undertakes its own internal monitoring of CTCS performance, through analysis of membership level statistics provided by dbda. These membership figures have been presented to and discussed by the CTCS Working Group on a six monthly basis, helping to inform future activity and research. The format of the CTCS Working Group is currently being reviewed, and the group in its current form has recently been disbanded.

2.9 SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 2

• The Children's Traffic Club in Scotland was introduced in 1995 and aims to develop road safety awareness and skills in pre-school children
• The Club is free of charge and all parents/carers are invited to register as their child becomes three years old
• The concept of a Children's Traffic Club originated in Scandinavia in the 1960's, and was developed in areas of England throughout the 1980s
• In 1998, membership levels were over 60 per cent, but this has been falling gradually to just over 50 per cent in 2004
• Membership levels vary across the country, and uptake levels in areas of high social deprivation are considerably lower than in the rest of Scotland
• Previous research has identified that there is a strong correlation between parental socio-economic background and membership of the CTCS, with those from more excluded backgrounds less likely to join the Club
• This correlation is particularly concerning as children in areas of high social deprivation are more likely to be involved in a road accident and to sustain more serious injuries
• Research has also demonstrated that once parents/carers have joined the Club, those from low income families were no more or less likely to use the resources than those in high income families
• Current promotion of the CTCS focuses on direct mailings to parents/carers, promotion through nurseries, playgroups, Health Visitors, RSOs and a bus poster campaign
• The CTCS costs approximately £460,000 per year to run, based on current uptake levels
• Targeted promotion has been undertaken in areas of high social deprivation including a 'Superbus' promotional tour of low uptake areas and promotion in schools and supermarkets located in socially excluded areas
• Previous research into CTCS activity has identified potential linkages between social exclusion, adult literacy and CTCS membership, and has made a number of recommendations to address these linkages, with the aim of increasing membership.