Road safety training for adults with learning difficulties
Adults with learning disabilities are often excluded from mainstream road safety education, with limited opportunities to access training that reflects their needs, communication styles, and lived experience. This can create barriers to safe and independent travel.
The presentation will share learning from a two-year project funded by the Road Safety Trust to develop and deliver dedicated walking safety and cycling safety courses for adults with learning disabilities.
A central feature of the project was co-production. Adults with learning disabilities were involved throughout, helping to shape course content, delivery methods, and practical activities. Their lived experience directly informed how the training was designed and delivered, ensuring it was accessible, relevant, and meaningful.
The presentation will explore how co-production influenced outcomes, how practical, real-world learning supported confidence-building, and how combining road safety education with independent travel skills enabled participants to apply learning in everyday situations.
It will also share key lessons from delivering inclusive road safety education over an extended period, including what worked, the challenges encountered, and how small changes in confidence translated into meaningful increases in independence — such as participants walking or cycling independently within their communities.
Amy Dixon, Day Opportunities Manager, Foresight North East Lincolnshire
Amy Dixon is the North East Lincolnshire Day Opportunities Manager at Foresight, a day service supporting adults with learning disabilities that has been operating for over 25 years.
She first joined the organisation as a volunteer placement as part of an MSc in Clinical Applications of Psychology from the University of Hull, and has now worked within the organisation for almost 12 years across a range of roles, developing extensive experience supporting adults with learning disabilities and promoting independence, inclusion, and community participation. She currently manages day service provision alongside leading projects that develop new opportunities and skills for the people they support.
She led a two-year project funded by the Road Safety Trust to co-produce and deliver walking and cycling safety training for adults with learning disabilities. The project placed people with lived experience at the centre of design and delivery, ensuring the training was accessible, practical, and grounded in real-world travel situations.