MAKING THE WAY TO SCHOOL SAFE

Danger to children on the way to school is influenced by various factors such as urban planning, street design, traffic education etc. In order to make the child's way to school safer an improvement must be achieved in all factors. First a questionnaire study was carried out in which questions concerning the behaviour of parents and children in traffic, participation in accidents, choice of route to school, social structure of the parents and similar factors had to be answered. Children's behaviour in traffic was observed at intersections and the urban planning situation was studied by specialists. Following an evaluation of the data it was established that the parents placed a greater value on the safety of the child's route to school, than on the religion or quality of the school. The child is particularly endangered at street crossings. For this reason, visibility on the carriageway must be guaranteed, if necessary by suitable parking restrictions; if this is not possible, the street must be made safe by traffic signals. In addition to these technical factors, the traffic education of the children at pre and primary school age must be particularly oriented toward the correct estimation of the danger on the streets, and toward the bheaviour of other participants in traffic. /TRRL/