A Study on Traffic Safety, Risk Perception, Necessity of Traffic Education for School Students and Respect in Traffic

The concept of education is the phenomenon of developing positive behaviors in people through various methods and materials. In terms of traffic safety, the behavior of vehicle users is determined by their experience and education. On the other hand, traffic education concerns not only road users, drivers, passengers, and pedestrians, but also children of educational age and their educators, official units responsible for traffic control, academics, engineers who design and build roads and infrastructures, politicians, and large segments of society. Therefore, a human-oriented and sustainable traffic education can be considered as the most effective tool to ensure traffic safety in an ideal sense (Turkey Working Group Report, 2018). School-level traffic safety education provides students with information on how to drive more safely on public roads and highways. It is compulsory for these educations to start from primary school level. Although traffic knowledge and experience must be presented within the trainings, it is imperative that the concept of "respect" comes to the fore for students and individuals to gain good traffic knowledge and practice. It should not be forgotten that the purpose of these trainings is to provide lifelong traffic knowledge and skills. The importance of learning these skills at school level is increasing as increased students go to school today. Those who do not drive use either bicycles or motorcycles. Therefore, these groups are “vulnerable road users” and need special protection. All such students need to be given specific training on their own safety on the road and the safety of other road users