Road safety help and advice is offered by the county council free of charge and it's open to all, writes Emma Henry.

From the 'sitting tight' programme to advise parents on the secure fitting of child car seats, through the Footsteps road safety training package, cycle riding tests and pre-driver training for teenagers, and guidelines for elderly pedestrians, there are leaflets and video packages catering for safety needs at all ages. There are also practical schemes which see volunteers going into schools to give training on areas like good cycling techniques.

A number of initiatives are aimed directly at adult drivers, including advice on drink-driving, how to avoid falling asleep at the wheel, and the chance to take part in driver improvement courses and minibus driving schemes.

The county council's group manager for road safety Phil Crossland said: "Many of these schemes are very innovative.

"The Footsteps programme, for example, is given to parents when their children go into the reception class at school to show them how to teach their children road safety. "We also have a significant number of Footsteps co-ordinators, who go into schools and take two children at a time to do practical training.

"We have a road safety education team, which runs campaigns like getting parents to fit child restraints properly. It is crucial that parents get them fitted carefully and that the child is strapped in enough as well.

He added: "Road safety is also not part of the National Curriculum, so we took the decision some years ago to do that. The main responsibility for road safety is for the parents, but we support that by providing local training and materials."

Mr Crossland said the council also gives cycle training to about 5,000 school children every year. The old proficiency tests have been sidelined over concerns that they gave riders too much confidence in their abilities, and have been replaced with basic training by volunteer instructors with an end-of-course exam.

He said: "Many of our schemes rely on the volunteer network and Oxfordshire owes a great debt to these people who help make the county's roads safer."

The county has around 300 local trainers working mainly with children and 120 Footsteps co-ordinators. Safety advice can be obtained from county council offices or through schools.