New TSU Project aims to document the road safety challenges faced by children with SEND
Xiao Li and Anna Plyushteva have secured new funding from the Road Safety Trust to lead an innovative project focused on documenting the road safety challenges for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Titled mapping road safety challenges to independent mobility for children with SEND (Safe-SEND), the initiative addresses growing concerns around the risks faced by children with SEND as they navigate their local streets when travelling independently.
Children with SEND can experience increased and/or distinctive road safety concerns. These concerns are likely to reflect the needs of individual children, for example linked to visual impairment, learning difficulties, or sensory processing difficulties, as well as the characteristics of the transport network. At present, very little is known about the road safety issues which children with SEND face when they begin to explore the possibility of making journeys independently. For families with 11-14 year-olds in particular, the potential benefits of independence often have to be reconciled with multiple, and often unknown, road risks.
Funded by the Road Safety Trust, the Safe-SEND project will work closely with 50 families in Swindon, alongside local authorities and national disability and transport organisations. The project has three main goals:
- Identify real-world risks by profiling the most common and dangerous scenarios encountered by children with SEND and their carers in diverse neighbourhoods.
- Empower families through technology with the development of an open-access participatory mapping tool that allows parents and carers to report safety concerns and risk-prone areas in their local communities.
- Drive change in road safety design by sharing findings widely and collaborating with policymakers, and advocates to promote interventions tailored to the needs of children with SEND.
“Children with SEND are among the most underserved groups when it comes to road safety planning. By working directly with families and stakeholders, Safe-SEND will help ensure that these children’s voices and experiences shape safer and more inclusive mobility solutions,” said Xiao.
The project will begin in July 2025 and run over 24 months. By bringing greater visibility to the daily mobility challenges faced by children with SEND, Safe-SEND aims to inform future infrastructure improvements and policy changes across the UK.
