Interactive traffic training for children

Summary

An interactive training programme was used to teach children how to ride their bikes safely in traffic.

Implementing sustainable mobility

Over 4,000 children are killed in traffic accidents in Europe each year, but experience has shown that behavioural traffic training can reduce the number of accidents and improve mobility choices for children. A new Internet-based interactive tool was needed to improve the value of the training programmes offered in Odense.

The measure targeted 4,000 schoolchildren at 40 schools in Odense. The interactive training programme “B-game” was based on scenes filmed in Odense to make it more realistic for the children.

The traffic programme showed potentially dangerous situations in order to teach children how to travel safely in traffic. The interactive game also taught children about distances, speed and traffic flow through structured video sequences. It was developed in cooperation between the school authorities, the roads administration and an advertising agency.

Progress

Between spring and summer 2005, planning was carried out by the Schools Department, the Department of Culture and Urban Development and a PR agency.

Filming for the game took place in summer 2005. Odense streets were used to make the game more realistic for children using it.

The interactive game was then introduced to school teachers in Odense and launched in May 2006.

Outcomes

B-game was used 1,694 times during the project period. Most pupils continued to play until they had succeeded in all 11 “missions”.

All schools in Odense were invited to use B-Game. However, only 12 out of 53 schools in fact used the game, despite the well-planned project and general support from the Schools Department. Many chose not to participate as they were already involved in a high number of other external programmes related to different topics.