Summer signals the end of another school year and the start of a big stretch of holidays, when many of our kids like to get out and about and enjoy the extra time with their friends and family.

As the Coast is a popular holiday spot, there will be more people at our facilities and on the roads as local children enjoy the outdoors, families get extra visitors and tourists flock to the region.

Council is again joining forces with the Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation (LBDF) to help promote its important road safety campaign: Holiday Time; Slow Down, Kids Around.

The campaign comes as a timely reminder about the importance of road safety and to encourage motorists to slow down and be more vigilant around the popular tourist areas where children are likely to be during the holidays.

The Coast is packed with great places for children and families to enjoy as it is home to a number of great parks, beaches, skate parks, waterways and shopping centres.

Children are unpredictable, especially around these areas, and can dart out across the road or through a car park without paying attention to their surroundings.

We are supporting the campaign to help keep children safe during the school holidays. With all this extra pedestrian activity around, it’s important we are all aware of our surroundings as both a motorist and pedestrian.

The campaign started in 2014 on the Central Coast by the LBDF following the tragic death of a child in a pedestrian accident during a family holiday.

The campaign has been so successful it has been implemented at a number of other popular coastal tourist areas in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.

Hold their hand

With more visitors to your local park or beach, it’s more important than ever we keep an eye on our children.

As an extension of the LBDF campaign, we are installing signs throughout our play spaces across the Coast reminding parents and carers to hold their child’s hand when walking around our local area – not only when crossing the road but also walking through carparks, to the beach or around our parks.
To complement the signs, we are also painting ‘Look’ signage in areas with high volumes of pedestrians as a reminder to look both ways and check your surroundings before crossing the road.

It’s important to hold our children’s hands until the age of 10 as they have limited abilities (around distance and speed) and can be very unpredictable – especially during the school holidays when their excitement is high.

As a motorist, we need to be more aware of the increased number of pedestrians in the area, especially around popular play spaces and tourist hubs, slow down and pay more attention to our surrounding environment.

Keeping them safe on the road

If you’re planning on a road trip these holidays, it’s important you make sure your child is safely secured in the car and have your child restraint checked for free!

We have vouchers available to have your child restraint checked by an authorised fitter.

Your voucher will entitle you to book in to one of our four recommended fitters across the Coast who will check the restraint is:

• Standards Australia approved
• Less than 10 years old
• Correct for your child’s height and weight

All children up to seven years of age must be secured in an approved child restraint in the car.

For more information on how you can get your voucher for a free check, contact our Road Safety Officers on 4325 8179 or 4350 5387 (available to Central Coast residents with private vehicles only).