Initiative details
Road safety education must begin in early childhood: the knowledge, habits and attitudes acquired at this age shape a child's behaviour in traffic for life and lay the foundations of later responsible, conscious participation in traffic. In today's stimulus-rich world, however, traditional classroom-based theoretical teaching is not sufficiently effective on its own for this age group, so we complement and combine it with experience-based, practical programmes.
The scale of the problem is reflected in accident data. In the European Union, around 20,400 people died in road accidents in 2023, with vulnerable road users – pedestrians, cyclists and powered two-wheeler riders – accounting for almost half of all fatalities. Children form a particularly sensitive group: in Hungary, between 2019 and 2023, 52 children lost their lives and 763 suffered serious injuries on the roads, and a significant share of these cases is attributable not to the children but to the conduct of adult road users. Achieving the EU's and Hungary's transport policy goals and realising Vision Zero requires regular, early-age educational programmes as instruments of long-term societal attitude change.
The programme therefore builds the foundations of safe mobility from ages 4–10 through experience-based, practical education, while also engaging parents and educators.
The scale of the problem is reflected in accident data. In the European Union, around 20,400 people died in road accidents in 2023, with vulnerable road users – pedestrians, cyclists and powered two-wheeler riders – accounting for almost half of all fatalities. Children form a particularly sensitive group: in Hungary, between 2019 and 2023, 52 children lost their lives and 763 suffered serious injuries on the roads, and a significant share of these cases is attributable not to the children but to the conduct of adult road users. Achieving the EU's and Hungary's transport policy goals and realising Vision Zero requires regular, early-age educational programmes as instruments of long-term societal attitude change.
The programme therefore builds the foundations of safe mobility from ages 4–10 through experience-based, practical education, while also engaging parents and educators.
Initiative date
Who was/is your target audience?
Children 0-16
Parents
Educational staff
Micromobility riders
Pedestrians
Topic
Create awareness
Education in school or in community organizations
Knowledge building and sharing
Training
Organisation details
Tudatos Közlekedők Egyesülete – TUKE (Association of Conscious Road Users)
Association
Hungary
Békéscsaba–Budapest
Contact name
Lajos Kibédi-Varga, association member
Telephone number
+36 70 940 0335
ovatosan@ovatosan.hu
Website link
Project activities
If you work together with external partners, list the most important partners and briefly describe their role.
The programme is part of close professional cooperation; our most important strategic partners are also our commissioning clients, who have funded the programme in various forms:
Közlekedéstudományi Intézet – KTI (Institute for Transport Sciences) – strategic professional partner; the programme grew out of a lifelong road safety awareness strategy commissioned by KTI. In certain periods KTI also acted in a commissioning role.
Országos Balesetmegelőzési Bizottság – ORFK-OBB (National Accident Prevention Committee, under the National Police Headquarters) – strategic partner and client; contributes to defining accident-prevention priorities and to funding. The booklet series aligns with the "Közlekedik a Család" ("The Family Travels") national competition series and the "Iskola Rendőre" ("School Police Officer") programme, both supported by OBB.
Autós Nagykoalíció Egyesület (Hungarian Automobile Grand Coalition Association) – strategic partner; on its Autószektor portal (www.autoszektor.hu) it has provided weekly coverage of the programme since 2015.
The transport ministry and its background institutions (the ministry's name has changed from one political cycle to the next) – commissioning and funding role; among its background institutions, for example, HUMDA (Hungarian Mobility Development Agency) contributed to producing the sustainability booklets.
Insurance companies (e.g. Generali) – clients and funders of the programmes; cooperation with Generali spans a decade.
Közlekedéstudományi Intézet – KTI (Institute for Transport Sciences) – strategic professional partner; the programme grew out of a lifelong road safety awareness strategy commissioned by KTI. In certain periods KTI also acted in a commissioning role.
Országos Balesetmegelőzési Bizottság – ORFK-OBB (National Accident Prevention Committee, under the National Police Headquarters) – strategic partner and client; contributes to defining accident-prevention priorities and to funding. The booklet series aligns with the "Közlekedik a Család" ("The Family Travels") national competition series and the "Iskola Rendőre" ("School Police Officer") programme, both supported by OBB.
Autós Nagykoalíció Egyesület (Hungarian Automobile Grand Coalition Association) – strategic partner; on its Autószektor portal (www.autoszektor.hu) it has provided weekly coverage of the programme since 2015.
The transport ministry and its background institutions (the ministry's name has changed from one political cycle to the next) – commissioning and funding role; among its background institutions, for example, HUMDA (Hungarian Mobility Development Agency) contributed to producing the sustainability booklets.
Insurance companies (e.g. Generali) – clients and funders of the programmes; cooperation with Generali spans a decade.
Please describe the project activities you carried/are carrying out and the time period over which these were implemented.
The programme is delivered in two forms. The first is a thematic road safety day held in kindergartens and schools, integrated into the institution's educational work: similar to a sports day, it engages the institution's entire relevant age group with age-specific activities related to safe mobility and sustainable transport. The sessions include playful theoretical preparation, interactive tasks and a set-up cycling skills and KRESZ (Hungarian Highway Code) compliance course, always with careful preparation agreed in advance with the teachers.
The second form is an experiential programme attached to festivals and family days. Participation is free of charge, and after completing the tasks children receive, as a gift, an instalment of the Tóbiás and Balambér's Traffic Adventures activity-booklet series, in which the stories of the two puppies convey road safety messages even to the youngest.
The methodology is progressive and age-specific: the youngest learn the basics, older groups increasingly complex knowledge, adapted to their developmental level. Alongside road safety, the series also addresses related themes – such as sustainable, environmentally conscious mobility – and an online, printable methodological guide supports the work of teachers and parents.
The series is also accompanied by two audiobook parts, whose stories and songs are built around key road safety messages; they feature well-known Hungarian actors as narrators, and the memorable songs were created in collaboration with Hungarian artists and bands. The two parts were originally released on CD; as that format became obsolete, the first part is now available in the Voiz audiobook library.
We deliver around 60–70 programmes a year, on a bottom-up basis.
The second form is an experiential programme attached to festivals and family days. Participation is free of charge, and after completing the tasks children receive, as a gift, an instalment of the Tóbiás and Balambér's Traffic Adventures activity-booklet series, in which the stories of the two puppies convey road safety messages even to the youngest.
The methodology is progressive and age-specific: the youngest learn the basics, older groups increasingly complex knowledge, adapted to their developmental level. Alongside road safety, the series also addresses related themes – such as sustainable, environmentally conscious mobility – and an online, printable methodological guide supports the work of teachers and parents.
The series is also accompanied by two audiobook parts, whose stories and songs are built around key road safety messages; they feature well-known Hungarian actors as narrators, and the memorable songs were created in collaboration with Hungarian artists and bands. The two parts were originally released on CD; as that format became obsolete, the first part is now available in the Voiz audiobook library.
We deliver around 60–70 programmes a year, on a bottom-up basis.
In terms of implementation, what worked well and what challenges did you need to overcome?
What has proven most effective is the experience-based approach built on personal involvement: children do not merely listen to information but actively practise safe behaviour, and in our experience both children and parents are highly receptive to the messages. We teach not only rules but a mindset that helps children recognise hazardous situations and make responsible, conscious decisions. The more than 15 years of uninterrupted continuity have given the programme credibility and recognisability, and host venues invite us back year after year.
An important realisation was that even in a rapidly changing world there is no need to rebuild road safety education on new foundations every year: the basic rules and values remain constant, and renewal appears mainly in the methods and tools. Since tens of thousands of children are born in Hungary each year, the target group itself is in constant renewal – so the essence of the programme remains permanently relevant.
The greatest challenge is maintaining staff: with this many events, a single large permanent team cannot be sustained, and the facilitators (typically university students and teachers) move on after one or two years. This is precisely why we standardised our methodology so thoroughly that new colleagues can be trained quickly through real-time mentoring, keeping the quality of knowledge transfer consistent and continuous.
An important realisation was that even in a rapidly changing world there is no need to rebuild road safety education on new foundations every year: the basic rules and values remain constant, and renewal appears mainly in the methods and tools. Since tens of thousands of children are born in Hungary each year, the target group itself is in constant renewal – so the essence of the programme remains permanently relevant.
The greatest challenge is maintaining staff: with this many events, a single large permanent team cannot be sustained, and the facilitators (typically university students and teachers) move on after one or two years. This is precisely why we standardised our methodology so thoroughly that new colleagues can be trained quickly through real-time mentoring, keeping the quality of knowledge transfer consistent and continuous.
Evaluation
Please summarise how you have evaluated the initiative’s impact (e.g. social media reach, survey, feedback forms, statistics).
We assess the programme's impact primarily on a continuous, real-time basis. Measuring children's knowledge is an integral part of the methodology: sessions begin with a short conversation or knowledge check exploring prior understanding, on which the age-appropriate content is then built; continuous questioning, interactive tasks and a joint summary throughout the session help consolidate what has been learned. In this way progress – in recognising hazards and making conscious decisions – is already perceptible during the session.
Beyond this, we gain a picture of the programme's effectiveness from on-site experience, the verbal feedback of children, parents and teachers, and ongoing professional contact with the institutions. At larger events we summarise on-site feedback and use it to refine the programme elements flexibly.
To gather feedback in a structured way we have used several tools: in the past we repeatedly applied satisfaction questionnaires, and we are currently distributing an online needs-assessment questionnaire – to as many Hungarian schools as possible – to map institutions' road safety education needs and local challenges. The programme's visibility and reception are also reflected in the content appearing on the press and social media channels of the events and our partners.
Beyond this, we gain a picture of the programme's effectiveness from on-site experience, the verbal feedback of children, parents and teachers, and ongoing professional contact with the institutions. At larger events we summarise on-site feedback and use it to refine the programme elements flexibly.
To gather feedback in a structured way we have used several tools: in the past we repeatedly applied satisfaction questionnaires, and we are currently distributing an online needs-assessment questionnaire – to as many Hungarian schools as possible – to map institutions' road safety education needs and local challenges. The programme's visibility and reception are also reflected in the content appearing on the press and social media channels of the events and our partners.
What has been the effect of the activities?
The programme reaches tens of thousands of children directly each year, and indirectly their parents and teachers as well. Over the past decade and a half, the key road safety messages have thus reached several hundred thousand children, families and educators. The reach is also illustrated by the Tóbiás and Balambér's Traffic Adventures publication series distributed to participants, of which we estimate around 10,000–15,000 copies are given to children each year.
The impact is national in geographic scope: the programme is present in numerous Hungarian towns, in kindergartens and schools, and at large festivals alike. Based on the knowledge checks and questioning built into the sessions, children's level of knowledge measurably increases during the session – in our experience, many were previously unaware of even the most basic rules.
Because the effect of awareness education unfolds over the long term and in combination with many other factors, we interpret the programme not as a stand-alone, direct accident indicator but as a complementary element of a comprehensive, multi-actor accident-prevention system: it fits organically into the road safety strategies of our partners (KTI, ORFK-OBB, the ministry) and provides their experience-based, early-age pillar. This embeddedness and the 15 years of continuity are the strongest evidence of the programme's lasting value.
The impact is national in geographic scope: the programme is present in numerous Hungarian towns, in kindergartens and schools, and at large festivals alike. Based on the knowledge checks and questioning built into the sessions, children's level of knowledge measurably increases during the session – in our experience, many were previously unaware of even the most basic rules.
Because the effect of awareness education unfolds over the long term and in combination with many other factors, we interpret the programme not as a stand-alone, direct accident indicator but as a complementary element of a comprehensive, multi-actor accident-prevention system: it fits organically into the road safety strategies of our partners (KTI, ORFK-OBB, the ministry) and provides their experience-based, early-age pillar. This embeddedness and the 15 years of continuity are the strongest evidence of the programme's lasting value.
Please briefly explain why your initiative is a good example of improving road safety.
The key lesson of the programme is that road safety education is effective when it begins in early childhood and when it combines theoretical instruction with experience-based, practical learning. Children do not merely listen but, through their own involvement and experience, practise safe behaviour, and they learn not only rules but also how to recognise hazards and make responsible, conscious decisions – which embeds more durably than the traditional classroom method.
The initiative is also a good example because it demonstrates the value of continuity: a stable, recognisable brand (Tóbiás and Balambér) and a consistent methodology can be sustained for 15 years, while the target group renews itself with each new generation of children. It also directly serves the transport policy goals of the EU and Hungary: achieving Vision Zero requires precisely such regular, early-age educational programmes, which are instruments of long-term societal attitude change.
It is relatively easy for others to replicate, because we have deliberately standardised the methodology: new facilitators can be trained quickly through real-time mentoring, and the programme elements can be adapted modularly to the venue and age group. The documented methodology can therefore serve as a transferable, adaptable model for other organisations, even in other countries – particularly within strong strategic partnership.
The initiative is also a good example because it demonstrates the value of continuity: a stable, recognisable brand (Tóbiás and Balambér) and a consistent methodology can be sustained for 15 years, while the target group renews itself with each new generation of children. It also directly serves the transport policy goals of the EU and Hungary: achieving Vision Zero requires precisely such regular, early-age educational programmes, which are instruments of long-term societal attitude change.
It is relatively easy for others to replicate, because we have deliberately standardised the methodology: new facilitators can be trained quickly through real-time mentoring, and the programme elements can be adapted modularly to the venue and age group. The documented methodology can therefore serve as a transferable, adaptable model for other organisations, even in other countries – particularly within strong strategic partnership.
How have you shared information about your project and its results?
We share information about the programme through multiple channels, with national distribution. The press communication, previews, websites and social media of the events and festivals regularly feature the programme, as do our partners' channels. Our own Facebook page was very active for years; due to the programme's bottom-up nature we could not later devote sufficient energy to it, so we deliberately focused on the Autószektor portal (www.autoszektor.hu) of the Autós Nagykoalíció, which achieves broader, more lasting impact: a "Tóbiás and Balambér's Traffic Adventures" article has appeared there every week since 2015. The content is also available as a free audiobook in the Voiz app.
Supporting materials
