Kids walking
Walking your children to school or walking together on the weekends can provide an opportunity to spend quality time with them. Allowing your child to walk to school, the shops, the park or to visit friends and family will have many positive benefits for their development.
Benefits from walking include:
- Regular exercise
- Improved health
- Provides a sense of independence
- Provides a sense of community
- It's fun.
You can read about more benefits for walking.
Here are some tips for teaching your child how to walk safely:
- Walk with your children until you are confident they have a well-developed road sense. Explain what they need to watch for when walking and teach the following simple rules: stop at the kerb, look right, look left, then right again, listen for cars approaching and think before crossing.
- Show them the safest route to school. This is usually the way with the least traffic and fewest roads to cross.
- Teach them to always walk on the footpath rather than the road.
- Encourage them not to play with toys while walking as they might dash onto the road to retrieve them.
- Teach your children to look out for vehicles coming in and out of driveways.
- Encourage your child to think about some of the dangers that might exist. Ask your children:
- Is this a safe place to cross?
- Is there somewhere better to cross, like a pedestrian crossing?
- Can I be seen by motorists?
- How fast is the traffic moving?
- Do I feel safe crossing here?
- Remind your children they should only cross at lights when the green 'WALK' sign is showing and only at pedestrian crossings when cars have stopped for them.
- Teach your children to respect and obey the school-crossing supervisor.
- Encourage them to follow the road rules through your own behaviour.
- Encourage them to walk with friends so they will be more visible and safer from traffic and strangers.
- Make sure your children know people who live along the route or other places they can go to if they feel threatened by strangers or bullies. For information about Neighbourhood Watch and Safety Houses visit the Queensland Police Service website.
- Ensure they know how to share the paths with other users.
Walking to school
Children have an opportunity to mix socially with their peers and arrive at school alert and attentive by walking to school. More children walking to school also means less traffic congestion around the school, making it safer for all children. Many schools are actively encouraging their pupils to walk to school through initiatives such as the Safe Walking and Pedalling Program and Walking School Buses. Your local Department of Transport and Main Roads road safety advisor can help you find out more about encouraging children in your area to walk to school.
Safe Walking and Pedalling Program is a Department of Transport and Main Roads initiative offered to schools for small infrastructure or educational programs to improve safety and access to school students who walk or ride their bikes. Works include building paths, fences and pram ramps for parents. Funding is also available for programs to encourage children to walk and cycle to school.
Walking school bus
Walking school buses are a great way for children to walk to school safely with parental supervision. Just like a normal bus, a walking school bus follows a set route and picks up passengers along the way. There are a number of websites that provide information about setting up a walking school bus. These include:
Walking in the curriculum
The Queensland Studies Authority has a module in the health and physical education key learning area called 'Being Active in the Outdoors' (PDF, 120 KB)* that assists teachers in incorporating walking and hiking into the curriculum.
*The content found by using this link is not created, controlled or approved by this department. No responsibility is taken for the consequences of viewing content on this site. This link will load into a new window.
