A little stardust for Scottish road safety

• Ziggy with Granny Walker and friends in one of the new books

Ziggy stars in six books to be distributed to all 106,000 pre-school children across Scotland through nurseries. The vibrant tales of his mission to learn about road safety will also be sent to all 2,150 primary schools.

A clip-on "buggy book" version will go to nurseries and also be sent to every baby born in Scotland next year.

They will replace a series of English-produced Children's Traffic Club books, whose uptake by parents has plunged from 70-80 per cent to 40 per cent since they were introduced 14 years ago. This has been linked to poor marketing and distribution.

Five children were killed and 1,469 injured on Scotland's roads last year, accounting for nearly one in three pedestrian casualties. Although the injury total fell by 13 per cent on 2008, and children have a lower risk of being hurt on Scotland's roads than youngsters south of the Border, those hit in Scotland are more likely to be killed or seriously injured.

The Go Safe! - Ziggy's Road Safety Mission series, written by Glaswegian author Lynda Kennedy and illustrated by Lanarkshire primary teacher Lynn Taylor, has subtle Scottish references. They include children going out guising at Halloween, a Highland cow and rhymes such as Ally Bally Bee. The other cartoon characters in the stories, which are superimposed on real-world backgrounds, include Maggie, a girl with tartan baubles in her hair, while Granny Walker sports a thistle brooch on her hat.

The books cover different seasons to highlight risks such as dark evenings and skidding on ice. Ziggy is also shown how to cross the road safely, the dangers of car parks and cycle safety.

Ms Taylor said: "Too many children are still being injured or killed on Scotland's roads.I hope this will make a real difference."

Louise Higgins, a teacher at St Peter's Primary School in Dumbarton, whose pupils helped developed the books, said: "They really interact with Ziggy, particularly the parts where they are telling him what to do, and where he is doing something wrong."

The books are also available online, along with games, at www.gosafewithziggy.com.

They have also been produced in Gaelic as part of the 350,000 project by the Scottish Government's Road Safety Scotland agency, which has taken two years to complete.

Transport minister Stewart Stevenson said: "Scotland's Road Safety Framework to 2020 identified children as a national priority and we are ensuring road safety education plays a vital role in safeguarding children and young people on our roads."

Motoring and road safety groups welcomed the books.

Neil Greig, the Scottish-based policy and research director of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said: "This is yet another excellent example of a well- researched road safety resource designed in Scotland and tailored to fit into a specific stage in a child's development.

"The challenge is to ensure everyone has the chance to benefit from this work and time can continue to be found in a jammed curriculum for road safety."

Kathleen Braidwood, road safety officer for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in Scotland, said: "This is way overdue, and we hope to use the characters in campaigns, having been unable to do that with ones in other books.

"We welcome the emphasis this puts on the role of parents and carers. Young children can learn a great deal about road safety from their example."

Liberal Democrat transport spokeswoman Alison McInnes said: "It is vital children learn about the risks of the road as early as possible, cutting down the risk of them being involved in an accident."