That shocking statistic is the global number of fatalities every 4 minutes and it provides a chilling reminder of the importance of road safety during the third UN Global Road Safety Week between 4-10 May 2015.

In Australia, the UN Safety Week coincides with the Yellow Ribbon National Road Safety Week which will end on Mother’s Day (10 May 2015).

Traffic safety around schools is a constant concern for parents and schools.

Last year we wrote an article about an ACT survey which found that:

• more than two thirds of parents surveyed had witnessed an accident or near miss around their school, with 14 per cent of respondents reporting this happened often;
• a similar number said their school car parks and drop-off areas were unsafe, while a fifth thought roads around their school were very unsafe; and
• more than 70 per cent of parents had found parking at their school difficult which had, in some cases, deterred them from attending school events and volunteering.

What does this mean for schools?

As schools will know, their duty of care does not stop at the school’s boundary fences. Student duty of care is not defined by location or time – it extends well beyond this to situations where students are engaging in school-related activities. This includes, to a certain extent, travelling to and from school, especially on public transport. This means that schools can be responsible for the safety of students who are getting on and off buses, and in and out of cars within the vicinity of the school.

As a start, appropriate supervision is necessary. This does not mean a stand-alone traffic supervision policy, but rather that supervision must be adequate to ensure that students are safe before and after school, and at public transport stations and stops.

Although various members of the community are jointly responsible for the management of child safety risks associated with road safety and traffic management around schools, including the Police and local councils, schools also play an important role in educating students on how to be safe.

Global initiative

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released a paper for Road Safety Week called: Ten strategies for keeping children safe on the road.  Although that paper discusses road safety for children in a globlal context, its strategies are generally relevant to the Australian schools context and it shows how the issue of child road safety is shared around the world.

A key statistic in the paper is that 186 300 children die each year from road traffic crashes around the world – that’s more than 500 children every day.

Some of the WHO strategies are already well-known in Australia but they are worth re-visiting this week.

They include:

• controlling speed (did you know that in the United Kingdom the speed limit in school zones is 20mph or 30km?);
• reducing drinking and driving (does your school remind parents and P plate students of this danger?); and
• improving children's ability to see and be seen (does your school uniform incorporate reflector strips on backpacks or other items?).

Raise awareness

Although schools are not in control of the design and infrastructure of the roads and crossings near their grounds, this does not mean that unsafe situations must be tolerated.

Proving how important it is for organisations to campaign for better roads, despite political and financial hurdles, the WHO has published this guide: A Guide for Non-Governmental Organisations: Advocating for Road Safety and Road Traffic Injury Victims.

This week is also an opportunity to remind parents and students about the importance of road safety and looking out for each other.

Will your school be celebrating road safety week?