1 I Want to Be Street-Smart and Street-Safe! LEARNING OBJECTIVES Children will identify traffic personnel. Children will demonstrate “stop, look, listen” before crossing the street. Children will state that traffic signs and signals are for safety. Most young children are around moving vehicles on roads and streets to some extent every day of their lives. They may walk to and from school, wait for their bus at the street corner, and run to a neighbor’s house down the street to play. Consider your community and environment when teaching traffic safety. In urban areas, visiting a community park may require crossing a street. Children may play in parking lots or near high-traffic areas that may or may not have pedestrian crossings and traffic signals. In small communities and residential neighborhoods, children often play on sidewalks or driveways and often cross streets to play with neighboring children. Children playing in their own yard or that of a neighbor are probably near a street, and their own driveways have the potential for vehicular traffic. In rural areas, the greatest danger may be home driveways or dirt roads, or crossing a road to the mailbox. Children must learn to watch not only for cars and trucks but also tractors and other farm equipment. 5