Road safety education for primary school children

Our resources and awareness campaigns to help primary school children stay safe on our roads.

Teaching children road safety in an age-appropriate way is so important for their development. This helps shape their attitude to road safety and how they behave as they grow and progress through the various stages of being a road user. 

We offer a range of resources which tailor road safety messages to help engage primary schools and primary school children (age 5-12)

Cycle Right (cycle training programme)

Cycle Right is run through a schools programme and also directly through one of many approved Cycle Right providers. Cycle Right can be contacted using an online form.

The Cycle Right programme is delivered over three stages. As they progress, every child gains the skills and knowledge to help them cycle safely on our roads.

• Stage One (8 hours) is based at an off-road location, e.g. a school or similar. Children get practical bicycle and road skills training as well as theoretical and Rules of the Road instruction. 
• Stage Two (3 hours) allows children take a more active role in making safer cycling decisions under the active assistance of an instructor. 
• Stage Three (3 hours) lets children take the lead role on a cycle journey, i.e., planning the route, deciding on road positioning and interacting with traffic. The instructor takes an accompanying role, assessing and giving feedback.

The programme is produced and supported by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the Road Safety Authority and Cycling Ireland with input from central and local agencies, and other groups. 

Cycle Right

Is the national standard for cycle training. It provides practical cycle safety and skills training to help primary school children become better and more confident cyclists.

Visit Cycle Right

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Be Safe! (for children aged 5-12)

Be Safe! is designed to promote safety among primary school children focusing on the key messages of road, fire and water safety. The road safety section covers:

• walking
• cycling  
• public transport. 

We have a resource pack that is full of activities and learning modules for different primary school age groups. Each module builds on previous lessons to help children become more safety aware and more responsible citizens. 

Order Be Safe! for your school or home.

If you would like to get this resource pack, you can access and download it through our virtual learning environment.

The pack was developed as part of the Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) module ‘Myself’, which addresses safety and protection, personal safety, safety issues and making decisions. 

Be Safe!

Is designed to promote safety among primary school children focusing on the key messages of road, fire and water safety

Visit the Road Safety Education website

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Let's Go! (road safety guidelines for primary and secondary schools)

Let’s Go! is a resource developed for teachers and school personnel who organise school events for children involving the use of public roads. It contains practical and helpful road safety guidelines covering various modes of transport, including:

• walking
• cycling
• travelling by car
• travelling by bus
• travelling by public transport

Order Let's Go! for your school

Lets Go!

is a resource developed for teachers and school personnel who organise school events for children involving the use of public roads

Order your pack today

Seatbelt Sheriff and Hi-Glo Silver

Seatbelt Sheriff (for first class)

Our Seatbelt Sheriff programme is aimed at children in first class. Children become seatbelt sheriffs by taking a pledge to always wear their safety belt and make sure that everyone else in the car is buckled up. Each child gets a sheriff’s badge and a certificate which give them the power to instruct passengers and drivers to ‘buckle up’ in any vehicle in which they are travelling.

Seatbelt Sheriff

Videos are a fun and engaging way of getting our road safety message across to a young audience.

Download your Seatbelt Sheriff pack

Hi-Glo Silver (for second class)

Our Hi-Glo Silver programme is aimed at children in second class. Hi-Glo Silver helps Seatbelt Sheriff with his road safety duties. This special horse encourages children and parents to always wear high-visibility jackets or belts when out playing, walking, or cycling.

Hi-Glo Silver

Packs are sent to participating primary schools in October every year.  Read more information or download additional teacher packs.

Download your pack

Safe Cross Code (for third class)

Our Safe Cross Code programme is aimed at children in third class. It focuses on the six steps every child should remember to safely cross any road. To help them remember these safety steps, we have a catchy song and special dance to learn, a fun game to play and some famous TV ads to watch.

Safe Cross Code

We have brought the Safe Cross Code to life through a series of fun games, dances and tv ads:

Safe Cross Code

This programme is aimed at children in third class and focuses on the six steps every child should remember to safely cross any road.

Learn the Safe Cross dance!

Going to School (a guide for parents and guardians)

Going to School is a handy guide with helpful tips for parents and guardians on how to get their children to school safely. It’s available in both English and Irish and you can download and view it from the links below:

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