Initiative details
The ultimate road safety problems addressed by the LEARN! project are the road deaths and injuries among children, with the project’s aim to address this problem through improving traffic safety and mobility education in Europe. The LEARN! project contributes to addressing this road safety problem by focusing on the challenges faced by road safety education professionals. During the first European Traffic Education Seminar in 2017, the attending professionals identified several challenges. Firstly, as also confirmed in the LEARN! Status Report, there are vast differences in the quality as well as quantity of the road safety education received by children across Europe, both in terms of differences between countries and between levels of education. Secondly, the lack of a common European terminology and methodology for educational activities on road safety, which was a barrier to learn from, compare and discuss educational projects and activities from different parts of Europe. Thirdly, the lack of a European platform where experts and professionals could exchange, share and learn about best practices related to the improvement and implementation of road safety education, innovative and effective educational projects, as well as discuss common challenges with colleagues from across Europe. Starting in 2018, the LEARN! project addresses those challenges through the activities mentioned in point 4.1. Moreover, it has addressed and keeps addressing additional challenges that have been identified over the years, including specific problems that experts from across Europe identified as common when implementing road safety education in schools, as well as ‘thematic’ challenges (e.g. synergizing with sustainable mobility education).
Initiative date
Who was/is your target audience?
Policy makers
Public authorities
Children 0-16
Adults
Parents
Educational staff
Topic
Create awareness
Education in school or in community organizations
Knowledge building and sharing
Organisation details
European Transport Safety Council
Association
Europe
EU / Seat in Brussels
Contact name
Frank Mütze
Telephone number
+3228823912
frank.mutze@etsc.eu
Website link
Project activities
If you work together with external partners, list the most important partners and briefly describe their role.
The LEARN! project is managed by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), and was started together with Fundación MAPFRE and the Flemish Foundation for Traffic Knowledge (VSV) in 2018. Since the project’s start, it has been supported by an expert panel consisting of leading experts on road safety education from across Europe, who provide input, guidance and feedback to the project and its deliverables and activities. The expert panel consists of experts from the Austrian Road Safety Board (KFV), the Czech Transport Research Center (CDV), the Danish Road Safety Council (Rådet for Sikker Trafik), the Finnish Road Safety Council (Liikenneturva), Road Safety Institute Panos Mylonas from Greece, Fondazione Unipolis from Italy, Dutch knowledge platform CROW, the Norwegian Council for Road Safety (Trygg Trafikk), the Portuguese Road Prevention (PRP) association, and Road Safety Scotland.
Please describe the project activities you carried/are carrying out and the time period over which these were implemented.
The LEARN! project develops and disseminates reports that provide recommendations, guidance, resources and inspiration to road safety education professionals as well as policy recommendations to decision makers at all levels. The two main publications are the LEARN! Key Principles and the LEARN! Manual, both of which were developed together with the expert panel members (see point on external partners).
The LEARN! Key Principles provides 17 recommendations that should be implemented in all countries in order to ensure that everyone – and especially children and youngsters – receives high quality traffic safety and mobility education. The recommendations focus on the right to receive such education, supporting schools and teachers, ensuring high quality education, facilitating framework conditions and involving all stakeholders. During an activity of the LEARN! expert panel, it was identified that the same issues and challenges related to the implementation of road safety education in schools are faced by experts all across Europe. The 17 key principles were drafted in response and aim to address these challenges. (The report was developed between late 2018 and late 2019, and published in 2020, and disseminated still today).
The LEARN! Manual handbook for developing and evaluating activities and programmes for traffic safety and mobility education. Its non-linear model with 8 steps sets out recommendations, criteria and guidance to develop and implement sound educational activities in an accessible way. It emphasizes among others the need to use behavioural change models, to conduct pre-testing before implementation, and to conduct evaluations and adapt accordingly. The LEARN! Manual therefore addresses the need in the road safety education community of having a common methodology and terminology that can be used to facilitate the exchange and discussion on educational projects from across Europe. It furthermore provides developers of educational material as well as schools and authorities using and/or purchasing educational material with a list of minimum criteria that should be included or be given thought to, in order to ensure qualitatively sound material. The guidelines and recommendations are accompanied by best practice examples that illustrate how LEARN! expert panel members have implemented them in their activities. (The LEARN! Manual was developed between 2018 and 2021, published in 2021 and disseminated still today). The ‘LEARN! Flash’ publications are a series of shorter reports that focus on specific aspects related to traffic safety and mobility education. The first LEARN! Flash report (2021) focused on the impact of COVID-19, and the second report (2022) set out the road safety figures for children and youngsters (0-17 y.o.). The third report (2023) focused on linking education on road safety and sustainable mobility, as those two topics often go hand-in-hand. It did not only contain recommendations for education that teaches and encourages children to walk and cycle and do so safely, but also recommendations for schools and municipalities on creating a safe traffic environment around the school with the aim to encourage active mobility to and from school.
The LEARN! project also organizes the European Traffic Education Seminar annually since 2019, though were replaced by publication focused webinars in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19. During these seminars, road safety education professionals from across Europe share best practices and educational projects.
All resources produced by the LEARN! project are available free-of-charge from the project website, which moreover contains a searchable database with the best practice examples on traffic safety and mobility education from across Europe, as featured in the LEARN! publications.
The LEARN! Key Principles provides 17 recommendations that should be implemented in all countries in order to ensure that everyone – and especially children and youngsters – receives high quality traffic safety and mobility education. The recommendations focus on the right to receive such education, supporting schools and teachers, ensuring high quality education, facilitating framework conditions and involving all stakeholders. During an activity of the LEARN! expert panel, it was identified that the same issues and challenges related to the implementation of road safety education in schools are faced by experts all across Europe. The 17 key principles were drafted in response and aim to address these challenges. (The report was developed between late 2018 and late 2019, and published in 2020, and disseminated still today).
The LEARN! Manual handbook for developing and evaluating activities and programmes for traffic safety and mobility education. Its non-linear model with 8 steps sets out recommendations, criteria and guidance to develop and implement sound educational activities in an accessible way. It emphasizes among others the need to use behavioural change models, to conduct pre-testing before implementation, and to conduct evaluations and adapt accordingly. The LEARN! Manual therefore addresses the need in the road safety education community of having a common methodology and terminology that can be used to facilitate the exchange and discussion on educational projects from across Europe. It furthermore provides developers of educational material as well as schools and authorities using and/or purchasing educational material with a list of minimum criteria that should be included or be given thought to, in order to ensure qualitatively sound material. The guidelines and recommendations are accompanied by best practice examples that illustrate how LEARN! expert panel members have implemented them in their activities. (The LEARN! Manual was developed between 2018 and 2021, published in 2021 and disseminated still today). The ‘LEARN! Flash’ publications are a series of shorter reports that focus on specific aspects related to traffic safety and mobility education. The first LEARN! Flash report (2021) focused on the impact of COVID-19, and the second report (2022) set out the road safety figures for children and youngsters (0-17 y.o.). The third report (2023) focused on linking education on road safety and sustainable mobility, as those two topics often go hand-in-hand. It did not only contain recommendations for education that teaches and encourages children to walk and cycle and do so safely, but also recommendations for schools and municipalities on creating a safe traffic environment around the school with the aim to encourage active mobility to and from school.
The LEARN! project also organizes the European Traffic Education Seminar annually since 2019, though were replaced by publication focused webinars in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19. During these seminars, road safety education professionals from across Europe share best practices and educational projects.
All resources produced by the LEARN! project are available free-of-charge from the project website, which moreover contains a searchable database with the best practice examples on traffic safety and mobility education from across Europe, as featured in the LEARN! publications.
In terms of implementation, what worked well and what challenges did you need to overcome?
The main challenges needed to overcome relate to the pan-European aspect of the project, as the recommendations and guidance in the LEARN! publications need to be useful for, and applicable in, all countries across Europe. Somethings that work well in one country or region, would not or do not work in another due to cultural and/or institutional differences. The LEARN! project overcame these difficulties in two ways. Firstly, by ensuring that the expert panel is made up of members coming from all the different regions of Europe, to account for the major differences in cultures and institutional setups. Secondly, the working method for drafting recommendations and guidance is that those are worded at a relatively high-level to ensure applicability everywhere, and subsequently examples from across Europe are used to illustrate how the recommendations and guidance can be implemented in practice in different parts of Europe.
The highlight of what worked well is the cooperation between the experts that support the project via the expert panel. Firstly, the provided input, feedback and guidance to the LEARN! project and its publications, and their motivation to collaborate in the drafting of Europe-wide applicable recommendations and guidance. Secondly, the experts are also eager to learn from each other, present their own best practices, exchanges ideas and discuss challenges. Both within the framework of the project (e.g. during expert panel meetings) as well as subsequently outside of the project, for example an internal workshop that was organized by one partner and involved the participation of several others.
The highlight of what worked well is the cooperation between the experts that support the project via the expert panel. Firstly, the provided input, feedback and guidance to the LEARN! project and its publications, and their motivation to collaborate in the drafting of Europe-wide applicable recommendations and guidance. Secondly, the experts are also eager to learn from each other, present their own best practices, exchanges ideas and discuss challenges. Both within the framework of the project (e.g. during expert panel meetings) as well as subsequently outside of the project, for example an internal workshop that was organized by one partner and involved the participation of several others.
Evaluation
Please summarise how you have evaluated the initiative’s impact (e.g. social media reach, survey, feedback forms, statistics).
The impact of the LEARN! project is mainly measured through the registration for the European Traffic Education Seminar, as well as the number of downloads for the publications.
The number of registrations for the seminars is between 200 and 300 persons each seminar. In addition, the recordings of the last two seminars are viewed afterwards respectively 230 and 400 times.
The LEARN! Key Principles report is still downloaded on average at least 2500 times per year, four years after publication. The LEARN! Flash 3 report, published in late May 2024, was downloaded over 1000 times since its publication, while the other LEARN! reports are downloaded roughly 600 times per year. (These figures only account for the downloads from the project website, and do not take into account downloads from other websites where it is available, such as etsc.eu.)
Although the LEARN! project focuses on road safety education in Europe, the project has some global impact as well. Although the majority of participants at the European Traffic Education Seminar are European, a significant number come from other parts of the world. Another example of the world-wide impact of LEARN! is that one of its publication was referenced in an academic article from Australia.
The number of registrations for the seminars is between 200 and 300 persons each seminar. In addition, the recordings of the last two seminars are viewed afterwards respectively 230 and 400 times.
The LEARN! Key Principles report is still downloaded on average at least 2500 times per year, four years after publication. The LEARN! Flash 3 report, published in late May 2024, was downloaded over 1000 times since its publication, while the other LEARN! reports are downloaded roughly 600 times per year. (These figures only account for the downloads from the project website, and do not take into account downloads from other websites where it is available, such as etsc.eu.)
Although the LEARN! project focuses on road safety education in Europe, the project has some global impact as well. Although the majority of participants at the European Traffic Education Seminar are European, a significant number come from other parts of the world. Another example of the world-wide impact of LEARN! is that one of its publication was referenced in an academic article from Australia.
What has been the effect of the activities?
It is difficult to make statements on the effect that the LEARN! project has had on the improvement of road safety through better education, due to its focus on targeting those that provide the education to the children, rather than provide the education itself.
Nevertheless, several impacts of the LEARN! project have been made known to the project managers. Firstly, the LEARN! material and notably the LEARN! Key Principles were used in the process of developing national learning goals and strategies in several countries, including the national goals for traffic safety and mobility education in Austria and the Norwegian National Plan of Action for Road Safety. We were also told the Key Principles have been used by national authorities in Spain, Bulgaria and Scotland.
Secondly, we are aware that the cooperation among LEARN! expert panel has led to panel members implementing ideas and improvements learned from other panelists.
Thirdly, we have been informed that the LEARN! Manual has been used by several external entities when they developed and/or updated their educational material. For example, the ADAC Stiftung – who reach 400.000 children annually with their activities – used the LEARN! Manual and its recommendations when updating their Achtung Auto activity.
Nevertheless, several impacts of the LEARN! project have been made known to the project managers. Firstly, the LEARN! material and notably the LEARN! Key Principles were used in the process of developing national learning goals and strategies in several countries, including the national goals for traffic safety and mobility education in Austria and the Norwegian National Plan of Action for Road Safety. We were also told the Key Principles have been used by national authorities in Spain, Bulgaria and Scotland.
Secondly, we are aware that the cooperation among LEARN! expert panel has led to panel members implementing ideas and improvements learned from other panelists.
Thirdly, we have been informed that the LEARN! Manual has been used by several external entities when they developed and/or updated their educational material. For example, the ADAC Stiftung – who reach 400.000 children annually with their activities – used the LEARN! Manual and its recommendations when updating their Achtung Auto activity.
Please briefly explain why your initiative is a good example of improving road safety.
Because it focuses on pan-European collaboration. The key success factor of the LEARN! project is that is provides a platform for European collaboration in a space where it was previously absent. The LEARN! project on the one hand allows for road safety educational professionals to meet, exchange and discuss as well as be inspired by projects and activities (including non-educational activities, such as advocacy for higher quality and quantity education) from all parts of Europe. On the other hand, the LEARN! project offers free resources to road safety education professions, authorities, municipalities and schools with recommendations and guidance on how to improve the quality and quantity of road safety education. And as the recommendations and guidance are provided at a relatively high level and require adaptation to the national/local situation, these recommendations and guidance can also be used by other types of organisations, e.g. daycare centers, scouts and sporting clubs who can adapt the recommendations to their specific situation and needs.
In a similar vein, the model of the LEARN! project could be used as a template to develop similar platforms for road safety topic and/or communities that current lack one, in order to further enhance European cooperation on those topics.
In a similar vein, the model of the LEARN! project could be used as a template to develop similar platforms for road safety topic and/or communities that current lack one, in order to further enhance European cooperation on those topics.
How have you shared information about your project and its results?
All the information on the LEARN! project and its results are available on its website, www.trafficsafetyeducation.eu
At European level, the communication channels (mailing lists, social media, events) of ETSC are used to disseminate the project’s results (deliverables, seminars). At national, regional and local level, this is done by the organisations represented in the project’s expert panel, to various extends depending on the country.
The initiative is also known beyond European borders, as attendees from across the globe register for the European Traffic Education Seminar.
At European level, the communication channels (mailing lists, social media, events) of ETSC are used to disseminate the project’s results (deliverables, seminars). At national, regional and local level, this is done by the organisations represented in the project’s expert panel, to various extends depending on the country.
The initiative is also known beyond European borders, as attendees from across the globe register for the European Traffic Education Seminar.
Supporting materials
