Expert urges parents to walk the route to school with their child before September 1
Traffic safety expert Oskars Irbītis advises parents to walk their child's daily route to school together before the new school year and point out dangerous spots. He also stresses that parents' own behavior in traffic sets the example children follow.
As the new school year approaches, Oskars Irbītis, head of the heavy traffic accident investigation project at the Road Traffic Safety Directorate and a traffic safety expert, is urging parents to do one important thing: walk their child's everyday route to school together before classes begin. He shared this advice on the TV24 program "Cilvēks.Ceļš.Drošība" ("Human. Road. Safety.").
The expert says this is especially relevant for parents of children starting first, second or third grade who will cover part of the way to school on foot or by public transport. Before the school year starts, it is worth walking the route together and pointing out specific hazards — where to cross the street, where to watch the traffic light carefully, where the bus stop is located, and where extra caution is needed.
Practical example matters more than theory
Irbītis also mentions everyday situations where a child might spot a favorite café or shop across the street and want to get there as quickly as possible. In such cases, parents should already have shown the safest way to reach it.
However, the expert says the most important factor is the parents' own example. Children learn primarily from adults' actions, not theoretical explanations. If a child is taught not to cross on a red light but then watches a parent do exactly that on an empty street, the child ends up with a contradictory understanding of the rules.
That is why the expert encourages parents to follow traffic rules even on seemingly empty streets whenever a child is present. He explains that children, especially younger ones, lack an adult's ability to accurately judge a car's speed and distance, making a simple rule — never cross on a red light — a far safer approach.
Irbītis emphasizes that the period right before the new school year is the best time to go over traffic rules in practice rather than just in theory, since a few minutes spent walking together can help a child better remember dangerous spots and feel safer once traveling to school alone.
