Safety around schools

Abstract

Around schools, increases in walking and cycling help to reduce traffic congestion and improve the road safety and neighborhood navigation skills of children. Physical activity and independent mobility may also have a positive effect on children’s behavioural and cognitive development. Child pedestrians, however, are a vulnerable road user groups, experiencing an increased crash and injury risk relative to older pedestrians, constituting a substantial proportion of all pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries, with children below the age of 10 years of age shown to have four to 11 times greater risk of collision compared to other pedestrians, and they frequently occur around schools. In fact, vehicle collisions involving children pedestrians are considered as the most serious health risk facing children in developed worlds. School safety evaluations were conducted involving four components: i) site visits providing physical assessments of current road conditions, ii) consultation with key groups including school principals and Local Council representatives, iii) desk-top review of available behavioural and training programs, iv) workshops to develop recommendations for appropriate and sustainable conceptual solutions. Using a number of case studies, the findings suggest that evidence-based and consultative selection of initiatives can be effective in encouraging walking and cycling while providing a safer environment around schools. This can be achieved through implementation of multi-faceted initiatives including engineering treatments to enhance the safety of the physical environment around the school and on popular routes to school, as well as sustainable educational/training programs for both students and parents. Evidence-based safety assessments are useful to develop a Safe System environment around schools. A combination of improvements to road design and operation, especially vehicle speed reductions and separation of vehicles and pedestrians, and behavioural programs to improved education and training, along with enhanced supervision can achieve sustainable reductions in child pedestrian trauma around schools.