Safety of school children is of prime importance in any civilized society. Young children need greater care and comfort when compared with adults during their road journey. Children are highly vulnerable and many a times will not be able to take precautionary measures. Any small incidents involving school children attract wide criticism and anger from the society. Therefore, it is imperative that authorities and school management provide safe journey mechanisms for school children.
Children travel to school using different modes of transport depending on their social background. There are over 6,000 schools in Bengaluru city with a student population of over 14 lakhs. A survey conducted by the SLS TTIC indicates that 37% of school children walk to their respective schools, 34 % use public transport, 26 % use private vehicles and 3% travel by bicycles.
Majority of the school children who travel in private vehicles go to the central areas where prestigious schools are located. Usage of private vehicles for schools children account for 20% of the morning traffic as parents drive their children to school. As a result, traffic congestion and road accident involving schools children has increased around schools. Added to this, overcrowding of school vans and autorickshaws also contribute enormously to road accidents involving schools children.
The following intervention need to be adopted to ensure safety of school children on their journeys.
- Engineering interventions, focusing on creating physical improvement in the infrastructure surrounding the school, proper roads, establishing safer footpaths, pedestrian crossings, Pedestrian controlled signal lights and construction of foot over bridges. Adequate informative and mandatory signages should be installed around schools.
- Enforcement interventions, to strictly enforce traffic laws and to ensure compliance by transporters and drivers. All vehicles transporting school childrens should be in yellow color to increase their visibility. The guidelines issued by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India regarding school vehicles should be complied scrupulously.
- Road safety interventions, like speed management, zero tolerance for drinking and driving, traffic calming measures, greater emphasis on public transportation and school traffic separation will have huge benefits is saving lives of school children.
- Educational interventions, by coaching students the importance of safety skills and conducting of driver safety skill programmes.
- Parents participation interventions, by creating public awareness and parental understanding to accept safety in day to day living should be increased. Parent should be encouraged to follow all the traffic rules and become role model for their children to follow the same.
- Trauma case interventions, by strengthening emergency care facilities in hospitals to provide efficient and standard trauma care for injured children.
Implementation of a combined and integrated interventions through system approach is the key to prevent road accidents involving school childrens. Projects like Safe Routs To School formulated a decade ago needs to be re-oriented to make Bengaluru city roads safe for school children.
Let us join hands and lead the way for better and safer roads for the children of today and leaders of tomorrow.