PREVENTING CHILD PARTICIPATION IN ROAD ACCIDENTS - THE ROLE OF TRAFFIC SAFETY EDUCATION IN EU COUNTRIES

Road accidents with child and adolescent participation form a tragic phenomenon that bears a causal relationship to the complexity of modern transportation systems. Accidents take place when one of the components of the traffic system fails - be it the participants or the environment. A frequent cause ties in a lack of necessary training on the part of the participants, which makes safe interaction in the traffic system rather impossible. Traffic safety education provides students with the necessary knowledge, intellectual and motoric skills and preferred behavioral patterns. In a great number of European countries, the system of traffic safety education is complex and well-organized. The aim of the research lies in comparing a number of foreign educational systems, showing their differences, providing an evaluation and offering ideas to optimize the system of traffic safety education in the Czech Republic.