Activity 9b: Be Aware, Be Smart, Be Safe on a Walk (Rural Area) 

 
 

Purpose

  • To introduce and/or review how to safely walk in a rural area  

  • To expose participants to possible dangers or obstacles they may encounter along their walking route in a rural setting  

Materials

  • Clothing appropriate for the weather  

  • Masking tape, road chalk, or pylons (15-20) to make a simulated crosswalk

  • Route card: Map created of the planned route for the walk.

Instructional Considerations  

  • Ensure participants are listening to instructions. Use the repeat feature of instruction: Who can tell me what we are doing? What are two things that I need to remember?  

  • Remind participants of the importance of safety. a Ensure participants are engaged in the activity, and are not distracted by other things.  

  • If a participant asks you a question that you feel the whole crew should know the answer to, stop the crew, and explain it to everyone.  

  • If your school or community centre is in a rural area, plan the route accordingly for the local area. If you are not located in a rural area, but have participants who live rurally, set the course up so that each of the areas can be covered.  

Location

  • The rural roads and paths in and around the home location (school or community centre/playground)  

Things to Observe

  • Participants are making observations and are inquiring into things they are unclear about.

  • Participants are demonstrating the proper behaviours expected in the given situation.

  • Participants are moving in crew formation.

  • Participants are demonstrating respect for the environment.

  • Participants are stopping, looking, and listening (emphasizing their dramatic poses) before they cross the street.

  • Participants are practicing the steps of crossing a crosswalk, safely.

  • Participants are actively engaged and participating in the debriefing time.  

Safety Considerations

  • It is important to walk the route before taking the crew to ensure that it is safe and accessible for all participants.

  • It is very important to go over the walking procedures before leaving the home base.

  • Be sure to review the proper methods for walking across a crosswalk (See How did the Chicken Cross the Road?).

  • Where there are no sidewalks, be sure to cover how to safely walk on the proper side of the road so the participants will be facing traffic.

  • Where there are no crosswalks, it may be helpful to use a low traffic/no traffic side street to practice proper crosswalk behaviours.  

 
 

Guidelines

  • If the local school or community centre is located in a rural area, this activity can be easily run.  

  • Try to set your route up so the skills and areas you choose to include can be executed as realistically as possible (e.g., find a street that does not have a sidewalk, or an unpaved under construction street with gravel shoulders).  

  • If others are helping to deliver the program, organize the participants into small crews. If there is only you to deliver the program then all of the participants will work closely with the one leader as a large crew. regardless of the number of leaders, it is essential that you carefully go over what is expected of all the participants as they walk the planned route.  

  • Remind the participants to also use the ‘stop, look and listen’ rule when crossing at a railroad crossing  

  • Whenever the participants are walking across the cross- walk, make sure to follow the proper methods covered in Activity 8.  

  • If there is no marked crosswalk available in the immediate area, it may be helpful to either simulate a crosswalk using the methods in Activity 8, or use a low traffic/no traffic side street to practice proper crosswalk behaviours.  

  • Discuss in advance with participants how to safely behave when approaching certain trouble areas (this should be predetermined when planning the route).  

  • Throughout the walk, stop periodically to demonstrate and practice safely crossing or travelling in areas with the following:  

  • Streets without sidewalks

  • Unpaved roads

  • Bridges

  • Railroad tracks

  • Flashing lights

  • Construction areas

  • Wooded paths

  • No street lights at night 

  • At the end of the walk, be sure to take a few minutes to go over what was seen and address any questions that were not answered during the walk.  

Debrief  

  • At the end of the walk, be sure to take a few minutes to go over what was seen and address any questions that were not answered during the outing.  

  • Ask them to respond to these questions:

    • When there are no sidewalks, what side of the road should you walk on?  

    • If the road is unpaved (gravel), how should you go about walking? What side of the road should you walk on and how far away should you be from traffic?  

    • If there are no street lights and you are walking in poorly lighted conditions, what should you bring with you and how should you dress? (Answer: flashlight and reflective clothing)  

    • Explain the safe way of crossing at a railroad crossing  

    • How should you behave at a crosswalk, marked or unmarked? What should you do before you cross? What are the behaviours you should do when walking across a street? What are the proper methods for walking across a crosswalk?  

    • Now that you know about some important safety considerations in our community, what are some good things about the area you live in?