Children from SDN Riverwood advocate for road safety as agents for community change

Children from long day care (LDC) service SDN Riverwood have acted as powerful agents for community change, using their experiences while walking in the community to lobby their local council for traffic lights and other road safety measures to make their local area safer. 

The advocacy process began during National Road Safety Week, with the children taking a walk with their educators to learn more about road safety measures, and to gather some data from their local environment. 

Some of the roads they crossed had no crossings, lights, or warning signs, prompting the children to warn one another to be careful, and to look and listen before crossing the road. 

During the walk the children discussed many other aspects of road safety including crossing at ‘green person’ lights in an expedient fashion, looking at driveways when crossing them to make sure no cars are reversing, and being safe in car parks by holding hands with an adult as reversing vehicles may not always see children. 

On returning to the service, the children observed the ‘island crossing’ in front of the service, noticing that people were not using the island crossing, but instead were crossing along Belmore Road. 

This prompted educators to ask the children “what could we do to make this space safer?”

Ayden suggested traffic lights, and Isla added “with a button to push” and from here the real advocacy work began.  

The children reached out to their local Georges River Council asking for assistance and support in their request for traffic lights and increased road safety measures. 

Educators and children also reached out to Local State Member Mr Mark Coure, Member for Oatley, inviting him to the service to discuss road safety, and the service’s request for traffic lights at the intersection of Belmore Road and Roosevelt Ave.

Mr Coure joined the children for their Acknowledgement of Country and “Taba Naba” and was very impressed by the children’s design poster showing him exactly where they think the traffic lights should go. 

During his visit, Mr Coure shared with the children that he had already written to the NSW Minister for Roads and the Local Council in relation to the request. Mr Coure also listened to parents’ concerns about the difficulty some families have in using the intersection and how the alternative routes can lead families “well out of their way” in the interest of safety.

“I’m so proud of the advocacy work our children have done here,” said Centre Director Christie Sherfan. “They are such vocal advocates for change, and experiences like this one truly show them how far their influence can reach.” 

SDN Riverwood is an Excellent rated service that educates and cares for 60 children in the NSW suburb of Riverwood. Learn more about the service here.