This guide for schools on travel plans takes account of our integrated transport policy to reduce car dependency, particularly for short journeys. It also builds upon the many good practices already in place in schools up and down the country. Safer Routes to School is the centrepiece of the Government's transport proposals for schools and the key to turning the practical steps in this guidance into action on the ground.
We have become increasingly concerned with the number of cars used on the 'school run'. These journeys account for 20% of peak hour traffic and are often for less than a mile. Car travel for school journeys is the mode adopted by 29% of school children or their parents. This last figure has doubled in the last 20 years and the trend is growing.
It is for these reasons that my Department has been working closely with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) and the Department of Health to identify practical ways of reducing car use and to ensure that policy and initiatives affecting school travel are integrated across the fields of transport, health and education.
The DETR White Paper A New Deal for Transport: Better For Everyone signalled the introduction of travel plans for schools - packages of simple practical measures to encourage the use of alternatives to the car. This guidance gives schools the tools they need by identifying existing good practice around the country, and by providing advice on how to prepare school travel plans. It complements the guidance issued to local authorities, which will lead to targets for reducing traffic and through local transport plans will provide resources to support Safer Routes to School.
I am very keen to reduce car travel to school. The benefits, which include improved child health, development of social and life skills, less pollution and greater awareness of environmental issues, cannot be overstated.
As ever, our goals are improved standards, achieving the highest quality of education, and diversity based on the needs of each individual child, linking schools in partnership together and with their wider community. This guide represents another step in achieving those goals.
Charles Clarke MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for School Standards
On behalf of the School Travel Advisory Group, I am delighted to welcome A Safer Journey to School. We believe that the guide meets the need for clear, practical advice for schools on reducing car use and improving children's safety. It has been written specifically for schools and with the needs and concerns of parents, teachers and governors in mind.
The School Travel Advisory Group, established in December 1998, includes representatives of parent, teacher and governor organisations, experts on child health and accident prevention, plus people from six Government departments and from local authorities around the country. Members have a range of professional expertise, but just as important we have personal experience of getting children to school, and of working in schools - of 23 members, 20 are parents, 11 are teachers or former teachers, and four are or have been school governors.
We believe this guide will help you make travel to your school safer, healthier, and better for the environment, and we recommend it to you.
Richard Dudding
Chair, School Travel Advisory Group
Children are losing freedoms that were once taken for granted: in 1971 seven out of ten seven year olds made their own way to school. Today, less than one in ten does.
It's 8.45 in the morning and the roads around the school gates are thick with traffic. Parents drop off children with their car engines still running. Others drive around searching for a parking space. Children dart between crawling cars to cross the road. Those making their own way to school have made tricky crossings on busy roads. It's just not safe.
If this sounds like your school, then a school travel plan could help. Making the school journey safer can break a vicious circle. As traffic grows worse, parents become more worried about letting children make their own way to school, and more likely to drive them there. Up to one in five cars in the morning rush hour is now on the school run. That's four times as many as twenty years ago. The result - more traffic... and more danger to children.
Parents are also influenced by other pressures. Anxiety about strangers, worries about bullying and plain lack of time in the mornings all encourage people to choose the car.
Wouldn't it be better if you knew children's journeys had been made safer?
Children driven to school are losing out in lots of ways. In busy traffic, children inside a car breathe in more pollution than they would walking along the pavement. Children need the daily exercise that walking or cycling to school can offer. Evidence shows that more active children are likely to become more active adults. That means less risk of heart disease and other health problems in later life. For older children, making their own way to school is a chance to learn 'skills for life', becoming more independent and self-confident.
A school travel plan is a series of practical steps for improving children's safety on the school journey. The project has benefits for both the school and the wider community. It aims to:
A school travel plan works by looking in detail at children's needs on the school journey. Parents, governors, teachers and children work together to find the right solutions for their school. By involving the local authority and other outside agencies it can be made safer and easier for children to walk, cycle or use public transport. A plan can be geared to the needs of a primary or a secondary school.
Ideas include a rota for parents to accompany younger children on a 'walking bus', cycle stands at the school and low fare deals for children using public transport. A school 'safety zone' can transform children's journeys with crossing points, traffic calming and lower speed limits on nearby roads.
Some changes can be made by the school independently, while others rely on support and funding from the local authority or other agencies.
Lots of schools have already made the school journey safer and easier for their children. Most find the benefits are well worth the time and resources needed. This guide explains what schools can do and how to get your own project under way.
Following a school travel plan at Wheatfields Junior School, St Albans, the number of eight to nine year olds walking to school rose from 45% to 75%.
"We go to school by walking bus. I like meeting up with my friends in the morning."
Jane King, aged 10."The turning point in our school travel plan came when the parents began to take ownership of it. From that point they no longer went along with it merely because the school asked them to. They did so because it was something that they felt was important."
Carol Laws, head teacher."At first I used to come to school in my Dad's car, but since I've done cycle training I ride on my bike and feel more confident."
Safraz Abhram, aged 13.
A school travel plan is a whole school initiative. Children, staff, parents, governors and the wider community are all involved, so it is important to gain support for the idea.
Begin by talking. Find out what people think about safety on the school journey. You might bring up the idea of a school travel plan at a parents' forum or a governors' meeting. An item in the school newsletter can explain how plans work. The full backing of the head teacher and the governors is probably essential to the success of the project, so take steps to involve them early on.
A successful school travel plan usually depends on the energy and enthusiasm of one or two people who are acting as champions for the project. From the outset, there needs to be someone who is prepared to make arrangements and co-ordinate the initiative. If this is you, make contact with others who will share some of the organising and help get the project started.
A school travel action team can be set up to brainstorm ideas, decide what to do and take the project forward. Ideally this should include a parent, a governor, a senior member of staff, a teacher who will be actively involved in classwork on the project, some pupil representatives and a local resident.
If you are holding a meeting with parents and staff:
Meetings can be enjoyable - don't forget to provide refreshments.
Some changes you want to make will depend on gaining support and commitment from your local authority and other agencies. To find the right person start by approaching the highways department of your county council, unitary authority or, in some areas, the borough or district council. (In some councils this department may be called transport or environmental services.) Ask for the person dealing with safer routes to schools. This may be the responsibility of road safety officers. If the authority is a member of the national travel awareness campaign TravelWise, then the TravelWise officer could be your best contact. The Local Agenda 21 officer can support your scheme by tying it into the wider environmental strategy for the area. Some councils also have cycling officers who can help your school to become more 'cycle friendly'.
You may also find it helpful to involve:
You could invite these people to join you as the need arises.
There can be big advantages in co-operating with neighbouring schools on an area-wide scheme. A number of secondary schools have worked on projects with their feeder primaries. This makes it easier to build children's traffic awareness as they move from primary to secondary, when journeys become longer and more complicated. It also helps limited resources go further.
You can make a start without a lot of money. Securing funding takes time, so don't be too easily put off by apparent difficulties. Changes to the road layout, such as speed humps or cycle lanes, will depend on funding from your local authority, which must make bids for grants to central Government. Funding may be available from other sources. See 'Finding the funding' (page 26) for ideas.
The way you introduce the project can generate lots of interest and give it a high profile throughout the school. Think about different ways of reaching different groups. The plan could be introduced to children at a school assembly, within form classes or in a curriculum-based lesson. School competitions can do a lot to publicise the scheme. To reach parents, you might make safety on the school journey the focus of a parents' evening or put up a display of information at the main entrance.
At Heaton Middle School in Bradford a competition to design a Safe Routes logo helped build momentum for the project. A local company provided a portable stereo as first prize, and around a quarter of pupils took part. The winning logo appeared on badges, posters and leaflets about the scheme, and all entries were displayed in a school exhibition about the project.
The Sustrans Safe Routes to Schools video provides a good introduction to school travel plans. Available from Sustrans, PO Box 21, Bristol BS99 4HA, price £10 plus 10% p&p.
Sustrans Information Line
(0117 929 0888) can provide a named contact for safer routes to schools in most local authorities.
The first step for the school action team is to find out more. How are children making the journey? What do they and their parents think the problems are? Pupils can be involved in recording their own travel patterns as part of their classwork. A large-scale map of the school catchment area makes an eye-catching display and provides a good focus for discussions with both children and parents. Surveys are used to collect more information.
You need to know:
Ready-made forms are available (see resource file), though you may want to change these for your school. It is particularly useful to include an easy-to-read map of the school catchment area and a plan of the school grounds showing all entrances. Children and parents then mark their route to school and the places where they feel unsafe.
To gain a quick 'snapshot' of travel choices across the school, class teachers can ask pupils for a show of hands on how they made the journey that day. Collecting these figures on a regular basis allows you to monitor the progress of the project.
You need to survey a sample of both children and parents. Where children are travelling to school unaccompanied, their parents may not know about details of the journey such as favourite short-cuts. But finding out the views of parents is also important because they usually make the final decision on how their children travel.
Reaching parents can be difficult, though some schools have managed a good rate of return by sending forms home. Another approach is for a group of volunteers to catch the parents who pick children up after school, and fill in the forms using face to face questions. This can be a good time to get people talking, especially if you put up a display about the project by the school entrance.
Most local authorities - and some secondary schools - have the software to make postcode maps showing where children's journeys start. (For data protection reasons, postcodes passed to outside agencies for this purpose should not be linked with names.)
Results from the surveys can be brought together on one large map to show the main routes used and the places where they are considered unsafe. This will indicate where the danger points are and will help you set priorities for action. Surveys will also highlight other concerns, giving you a good picture of travel to the school and the issues your school travel plan has to address.
A range of surveys (including forms for different age groups and a monitoring survey) is available from Sustrans and can be downloaded from its website at http://www.sustrans.org.uk. Surveys are also available in the Sustrans Safe Routes to Schools Teachers' Resource Folder, see page 15.
Survey forms will be available in a pack of materials being prepared by the School Travel Advisory Group from DETR Free Literature, PO Box 236, Wetherby LS23 7NB, tel 0870 1226 236, fax 0870 1226 237.
Having found out more about the problems, your school action team can start to look for solutions. This guide will help you explore ideas for supporting walking, cycling, public transport and car sharing.
Your survey findings will form the basis of your discussions with the local authority. Try to persuade them to come and see the problems for themselves. One school invited highways engineers from the council to join parents and children on the school journey. In collaboration with the action team, the local authority should be able to put forward a range of measures to improve safety.
Presenting the survey results in school can generate a lot of interest and raise awareness about travel choices. Findings can be fed back to the whole school community in different ways - through an assembly, an exhibition or a parents' meeting. This is also an opportunity to explain the ideas for improvements that have come from both the school and the local authority, and invite further comments from everyone. Be sure to seek the views of any disabled children or adults who come to your school. Proposals can be illustrated with pictures, maps or models - they don't have to be perfect to be useful!
The survey findings and proposals can be a good starting point for talking to local residents. You might invite residents to come to a meeting or visit an exhibition after school. If you can take an exhibition out onto the street you will involve a wider cross-section of people.
Consider the results of the surveys and the ideas that have come from parents, children, staff and the local authority. Involve outside agencies (see page 7) that can help you with the process and are not already on board. Look at all the actions the school can take independently as well as those that require local authority support. Decide which measures will work for your school. While some actions can be taken straight away, others will be long term plans, for which you will need to find support and funding. The checklist on page 28 will help you draw up a list of action points. Make sure everyone knows who is doing what and how each action point will be taken forward.
Your action list will effectively be a 'first draft' of your school travel plan. Add to this what it is you are hoping to achieve, for example, a reduction in traffic at the school gate, a decrease in the number of children driven to school and an increase in the number of children who walk or cycle. You could set some targets for these, with help from your local authority. If you need to, you can adjust them later, but it helps to have something to aim for. Monitor your school's progress on a regular basis (see page 9), at least once a year.
Written travel plans can vary from school to school. You might like to include sections on:
You will need to consider whether extra insurance is necessary for any of the activities you are planning. Contact your local authority's insurance department for advice. Your local road safety department may also be able to assist. Where additional insurance is required, the local authority may be able to provide this through its own policy.
Where people from outside agencies or parent volunteers will be taking part in activities which involve regular contact with children, it may be necessary to follow a formal vetting process. Advice is available from your local education authority, or contact the Department for Education and Employment on 01325 392103.
Three primary schools in Hertfordshire - London Colney JMI, Bowmansgreen JMI and St Bernadette RC JMI - made their own models of the local area as a focus for consultation, in a ''planning for real' event. The models were displayed in schools and community centres where anyone could drop in and take a look. Children, parents and local residents were invited to plant small flags showing what changes they would like to see, including safer crossing places, new play facilities and more trees.
A local authority best practice guide to school travel plans is available free of charge from DETR Free Literature, PO Box 236, Wetherby LS23 7NB, tel 0870 1226 236, fax 0870 1226 237.
The Do-er's Guide to Planning for Real is a pictorial introduction to 'pllanning for real' techniques. Available from The Neighbourhoods Initiatives Foundation, The Poplars, Lightmoor, Telford TF4 3QN tel 01952 590777 price £3.50.
As your school travel plan progresses, let parents and children know what is happening. Use school newsletters, annual reports, letters home and other briefings to keep everyone updated. You could set up a school journey notice board for news on the plan and school travel arrangements. Posters and displays of children's work can raise awareness about travel choices. Local newspapers will often carry positive stories about school travel plans. A special logo can help identify all the initiatives in your plan, from walk to school events to new cycle stands, as part of the same project.
The decision on whether a child is ready to make the journey to school independently, on foot, by bicycle, by bus or by rail, must rest with parents and children themselves. The role of the school travel plan is to make alternatives to driving easier and safer, and to give parents plenty of information about the options. But it is reasonable to make some requests of parents, in the interests of children's safety.
Sessions to welcome new pupils and parents are a good opportunity to spell out travel policies: explain that the school is aiming to reduce car journeys and support alternatives. Offer advice on the safest routes and explain about travel arrangements. Primary schools can ask parents of younger children to walk with their child if possible. Emphasise the benefits to children's health. If parents have to drive, they can be asked to park away from the school - some schools suggest a local drop off point. Drivers can also be asked to think about teaming up with another family to share the school run. Policies will obviously have to recognise different needs and circumstances: some staff and pupils may have no alternative to the car. Children with reduced mobility may need to be driven door-to-door.
For children starting secondary school, parents can be asked to make the journey with their child before term starts, so that they can help sort out any difficulties. The school could also suggest that children who are going to be travelling independently make a 'trial run' - perhaps with a friend - during the summer holiday, when not under pressure to arrive on time. Some schools send an arrival pack which explains the options for travel and includes road safety advice, maps and bus timetables. Many children first start to make their own way to school when they move on to secondary level. Worryingly, it is also around this age that child pedestrians are most likely to become casualties, so both schools and parents have a vital role in preparing children to cope with traffic at this point.
The school's travel arrangements and policies can be effectively promoted in the prospectus. Opportunities for change may arise when the prospectus is being updated: include positive images of pupils walking or cycling to school.
Children need to take part in regular physical activity to stay fit and to develop active lifestyles for their future health. An hour a day is the recommended minimum - and the school journey can help towards this. In the long term, being active helps protect against many health problems such as heart disease.
On busy roads children riding inside the car are exposed to more pollution than at the roadside. Good ventilation of the car or the use of air conditioning doesn't significantly alter pollution levels.
The journey to school is a great time to chat to your child, find out how things are going at school and talk about things you see on the way. You can notice seasonal changes and meet up with other families as you walk.
By walking with your child you can help them build up their pedestrian skills over time, so that when they start making journeys alone they will be better prepared for coping with traffic.
Being physically active reduces stress and raises self-esteem. Once children are ready to make their own way to school, then the journey becomes a chance to gain independence and self-confidence.
We have to reduce the amount of traffic on the roads. If we go on as we are, we can expect traffic to rise by more than a third over the next twenty years. That's more fumes, more road danger and tighter limits on children's freedom.
"Every minute is taken up and you think, how can we take on
anything extra? We had to involve the safer routes theme in
subjects already there. A competition to design a bike shed
became the design technology work for that week. Key Stage 2
geography includes work on the local environment, so it was
no problem to add a bit about traffic issues. And in PSHE we
looked at how being active keeps our bodies healthy."
Head teacher.
Developing a school travel plan provides a great learning opportunity. It can give children the chance to work directly with decision-makers and to have a say in shaping their own surroundings. Through the project, they can see that their opinions count and that it is possible to make positive changes to everyone's benefit.
Classroom time is always under pressure. To make room for work on safer journeys to school, teachers need to integrate the topic into the national curriculum. There are lots of opportunities to do this and some primary schools have made school travel a cross-curricular theme - including different aspects of the project in a whole range of school subjects. They might analyse survey data in maths, map the local area in geography, and design new facilities, such as cycle sheds, in design technology. Cycle training, pedestrian training and personal safety issues can all contribute to Personal, Social and Health Education.
Secondary schools could also use a cross curricular approach, but may find it easier to develop school travel work within one or two subject areas, since the curriculum is tighter at this level.
Developing a school travel plan can help children to understand how local government works, and so contributes to education for citizenship.
A range of materials is available to help teachers fit school travel into existing programmes of study (see resource file).
Horndean Community School in Hampshire developed a module on safer routes to school as part of the geography syllabus for 13 - 14 year olds. Students use information technology to map the local area, with the help of software supplied by the county council. They identify danger points on the way to school, look at the alternatives and try out changes in road design. Through the work, they are able to put transport issues into a local context, examine problems and come up with solutions. The school's humanities co-ordinator, Gwil Williams, says the module is one of the most popular with students, who find local examples bring the issues alive.
Hertfordshire pupils saw their own artwork transformed into 'gateway' signs to alert drivers entering roads around the school. Pupils from Sandringham School and nearby Wheatfields Junior School spent a day with a London design house, to see how their drawings could be developed with IT. As the school travel project progressed, a group of children from each school met monthly with council officers, police, parents, governors and staff. Junior school head teacher Carol Laws says: "It was very impressive to watch them grow because they were valued and treated as equals. They had an ear for what the other children were saying. Their opinions would be sought and they would go back to consult the rest of the class."
Students from Burnholme College in York had a chance to experience cycle freedom, when they visited the Danish town of Odense on an exchange trip. The city's comprehensive programme to protect children from road danger cut child traffic accidents by 85% in two years. Students, aged 13 to 14, stayed with Danish families and took part in pedestrian and cyclist training at a special Danish 'traffic school'. Jay Sayers, a teacher at Burnholme, says one of the most noticeable differences in Odense was drivers' increased awareness of other road users. "The major thing that we learned was that there was a way of being which allowed young people maximum freedom. Our children were amazed by the freedom their Danish friends had. They could go wherever they wanted by themselves in safety." On their return, pupils gave a presentation about the trip to the city council.
At Highfields in Leicester, motifs designed by children mark out the safest routes to three primary schools. A different colour is used for each school's ''trail' with dinosaur footprints and stars set into the pavements. The project began by consulting 7 - 11 year olds with the help of playworkers. Children traced their journeys on giant maps. The playworkers helped them fill out surveys and encouraged them to draw pictures of those things that frightened them on the route. A group of the children went on to work with engineers and planners to develop the trails. Plans were displayed outside the school gates to give everyone a chance to comment.
Sustrans' Safe Routes to Schools Teachers' Resource Folder covers Key Stages 1 and 2, and Key Stages 3 and 4, and includes ideas for project work across the curriculum and background information. Available from Sustrans, PO Box 21, Bristol BS99 4HA, £20 to local authorities; £14 to schools and individuals plus 10% p&p.
The Nottinghamshire TravelWise teachers' pack looks at travel and transport issues such as health, pollution and congestion. It contains over 50 activities across the curriculum and is particularly aimed at Key Stage 2 with suggestions for adapting activities for Key Stage 3. Available from Phil Keynes, Environmental Co-ordinator, Nottinghamshire County Council, Environment Department, Trent Bridge House, Fox Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 6BJ, tel 0115 977 4623, free of charge.
Hertfordshire County Council produces two green transport teaching packs, for Key Stages 1 and 2, and Key Stages 3 and 4, which encourage children to look at their own travel patterns and road safety. The packs are based on the geography curriculum, but can be linked to other work. Available from Road Safety, Hertfordshire County Council, 96 Victoria Street, St Albans AL1 3TG, tel 01727 816962, price £7.50 each.
Working for a Safer Area, an activity book about traffic calming, is aimed at Key Stage 2 pupils and is available from Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, Traffic and Road Safety Section, PO Box 42, Lombard Street, West Bromwich, West Midlands, B70 8RU, tel 0121 569 4270. The activity book is 40p, teachers' notes 80p, bulk orders available.
The National Society for Clean Air publishes a Transport Emissions Assessment for Schools pack which helps schools calculate the amount of pollution their journeys to school produce. The project is aimed at Key Stage 3 - 4 pupils, but can be adapted for younger age groups. Available from NSCA, 136 North Street, Brighton BN1 1RG, tel 01273 326313, free of charge.
Map Maker Student is a piece of software that enables schools to map their own travel patterns. Available from MappIT Ltd., Freepost PE1 427, Ramsay, Huntingdon, Cambs PE17 1BR, tel 01487 813745, price £75. The software is designed for use with large scale digital maps made by Ordnance Survey, which are generally free from the local authority to LEA funded schools. To find out the name of your local authority OS liaison officer, contact OS on 01703 792773 or 023 8079 2773.
Young Transnet is an educational project that uses IT and the Internet to give children and young people a say in transport issues. Visit the website on http://www.youngtransnet.org.uk or call them on 0171 843 6325 or 020 7843 6325.
The DETR is not responsible for the contents or reliability of the linked web sites and does not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them. Listing should not be taken as endorsement of any kind. We cannot guarantee that these links will work all of the time and we have no control over the availability of the linked pages.
Where traffic is slowed down to 20mph children benefit dramatically. One study found a 70% drop in accidents to child pedestrians, while accidents to child cyclists fell by nearly half.
A good safer routes scheme should:
Changes in road design can make the whole environment around the school more welcoming for walkers and cyclists. This means creating safer crossing places, slowing down traffic and giving more space to pedestrians and bicycles. Measures may be needed to tackle danger spots and create a 'safety zone' around the school. The whole effect is an area where walking and cycling is not only safer, but easier and more enjoyable.
Local authority traffic planners and engineers can work with the school to put together a design proposal for the area. Both sides of this partnership have plenty to contribute. While the engineers know about different ways of managing traffic, it is the parents, children and teachers who are experts on their school journey.
If you have difficulty gaining support and commitment for safety changes from your local authority, then you could put forward your own design proposals as a starting point.
Making highway changes is a lengthy process. Time has to be allowed for consultation and decisions. It is not unusual to wait a year before measures are in place. Reducing car travel to school is part of the Government's transport policy (see page 26) - so keep pressing for the changes your school needs.
The beginning of a school area is marked out as a 'gateway' with signs and road markings.
At a raised junction the road is brought level with the pavement. Cars have to slow down while pedestrians can cross more comfortably.
Footpaths allow walkers to avoid traffic altogether, but need to be well surfaced and well lit.
Pinch points make the road narrower so the traffic slows down, while pedestrians don't have so far to cross.
Toucan crossings are like pelican crossings, but can be used by both pedestrians and cyclists.
Cycle tracks can be routed away from the road or created along pavements or verges.
Special motifs can be used to make a trail, guiding children along the safest routes.
Road humps reduce speeds very effectively. They can have gaps at the side which allow cyclists to pass freely.
Road humps on zebra crossings encourage motorists to approach more slowly.
Pedestrian refuges slow down traffic and allow pedestrians to cross the road in two stages. A dropped kerb makes it easier to cross.
20mph zones reduce pedestrian accidents and deter drivers from using the area as a rat-run.
Cycle lanes help protect cyclists from traffic.
Yellow zigzag lines restrict parking outside schools. In co-operation with the police, the local authority can give the restrictions force of law.
Chicanes are alternately spaced build-outs on opposite sides of the road that can slow vehicles down.
Speed cushions slow vehicles down like other road humps but are more 'bus-friendly'.
Pinch points, chicanes and refuges can be built to be 'cycle-friendly'.
Changes in road design will have much more effect on children's choice of travel if your school is actively supporting alternatives to the car. What's more, some schools will be faced with a long wait before funding for engineering work becomes available. In the meantime there's plenty you can do to reduce traffic and make the school journey safer. Schools which have already made a start on their school travel plan may find it easier to persuade the local authority to make changes to the road layout.
Living Streets: A guide to cutting traffic and reclaiming street space is a practical guide to traffic reduction for anyone concerned about traffic and includes a 12 point plan based on actions that councils can take now. Available from Transport 2000, The Impact Centre, 12-18 Hoxton Street, London N1 6NG, tel 0171 613 0743 or 020 7613 0743, price £10.
Safer by Design: a guide to road safety engineering, produced by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, (ref TINF333) shows traffic management measures in easy-to-understand pictures. Available from DETR, Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR, tel 0870 122 6236, free of charge.
Safe Routes to Schools Model Design Report shows detailed proposals for changes on the road and at school sites for two schools. The Safe Routes to Schools Project Guide sets out the policy context of school travel plans as well as explaining how to establish a safer routes project. Both are available from Sustrans, PO Box 21, Bristol BS99 4HA, price £6 and £3 respectively, plus 10% p&p.
Children's freedom and the car
While child pedestrian casualties have fallen in the last 10 years, this is probably because children are increasingly kept away from traffic. Children using roads are at their most vulnerable when they first gain their independence, but may not have the road skills to match. Overall, they are most likely to become pedestrian casualties at 11, 12 and 13, (though the chances of a boy being killed as a pedestrian also peak around the age of eight).
Pedestrian training can help children to act more safely on the roads, but no child gets it right all the time. We have to make roads safer for children, and that means slower speeds and less traffic.
Walking is such an everyday activity that it is easy to take it for granted. Yet we don't walk nearly as much as we used to - about a fifth less than 20 years ago - and the loss of this exercise is a health concern. Walking to school helps children to keep fit now, and makes it more likely that they'll stay active when they are older. Younger children who walk to school with a parent or carer have the chance to build up their road sense over time, making them better prepared for independent journeys later on.
"The children love it," says Coreen King, a parent volunteer who regularly accompanies the walking bus to Wheatfields Junior School in St Albans. "They all chat about what they've been up to and what they watched on telly the night before." As an added incentive, children are given a sticker for every journey and can trade them for free goods in the school book shop.
The walking bus
Parents may have difficulty in finding time to walk to school. One option is to arrange an escort rota - so that two or three families take turns in accompanying children. Some primary schools have taken this idea much further by setting up a 'walking bus'. This is a group of children, walking to school with two parent volunteers - a 'driver', who leads the way, and a 'conductor' at the rear. The walking bus follows a set route, stopping at agreed pick up points in the neighbourhood. Volunteers and children are kitted out with reflective clothing and a trolley can be used to carry bags. A number of safety checks are used in setting up schemes, for example:
Full guidelines for setting up a walking bus are available (see resource file).
Many schools promote walking by taking part in national Walk to School Week when parents are encouraged to accompany their children on foot. Badges, stickers and other materials are available (see resource file). Some schools have gone on to run year-round campaigns for parents and children to 'walk a day a week'.
You can work with local authority road safety officers to provide practical pedestrian training for children as part of Personal, Social and Health Education. Effective training involves sessions at the roadside, rather than being purely classroom based. Many schemes train parent volunteers to work with pupils. It's important to convey to parents that children who have completed a series of sessions are not automatically 'roadworthy'. Pedestrian training should be a long term process with frequent, short sessions at different ages. There is a particular need to raise children's awareness about road safety as they approach secondary transfer. At this age, many children gain their independence and start to make longer journeys.
At Waingel Copse School in Reading drivers leaving the school grounds are held back for 15 minutes at the end of the day until pedestrians and cyclists have left the site.
Children need to be able to walk safely into school without having to weave between vehicles coming in or out. Ideally there should be a separate, traffic-free entrance for walkers and cyclists. Where pedestrians and cyclists are using the same pathway, the space should be clearly divided. Entrances should be wide enough for several people to use them at once. Even without a separate entrance, arrangements at the end of the school day can prevent a free-for-all. One idea is to hold traffic back until children who are walking or cycling have left in safety.
School uniforms are often quite dark, making it difficult for children to be seen by drivers. Consider whether changes are needed. Some schools supply reflective badges and other accessories to children at discounted prices.
Children may be coming by car because they have to carry heavy books, musical instruments or materials for classes. Providing plenty of locker space at school can reduce the amount they need to take home and make it easier to store coats and outdoor shoes. Think about whether changes can be made to the homework timetable to ensure that children don't have too much to carry on any one night.
Schools can approach the local authority road safety department to request a school crossing patrol at a busy crossing point. The decision to provide a patrol will depend on the volume of traffic and the number of unaccompanied children using the crossing. If the council refuses a permanent patrol, they may agree to provide a temporary one, and see if the numbers using the crossing point increase over time. Schools can help with recruitment, which can be difficult.
Guidelines for setting up a walking bus are available from
Environment Department, Hertfordshire County Council, County
Hall, Pegs Lane, Hertford, SG13 8DN,
tel 01992 555265, price £5.
ROSALIND is a computerised database of road safety education resources, for use by road safety practitioners, teachers and other professionals. Copies are available from the British Institute for Traffic Education Research, Kent House, Kent Street, Birmingham B5 6QF, tel 0121 622 2402, price £49.95. Most road safety departments have copies they can lend to schools.
Kerbcraft, by Strathclyde University, published by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, is a resource for practical pedestrian training, available on the DETR website: http://www.dft.gov.uk.
Footsteps, a traffic awareness programme, is available from Oxfordshire County Council, Environmental Services, Road Safety/TravelWise Group, Speedwell House, Speedwell Street, Oxford OX1 1NE, tel 01865 815657, sample pack price £2.60.
Walk to School information packs, stickers and posters are available from the Pedestrians Association, 31-33 Bondway, Vauxhall, London SW8 1SJ, tel 0171 820 1010 or 020 7820 1010, price £5 for pack. Other Walk to School resources are available from National TravelWise Association, contact John Sykes at Hertfordshire County Council on 01992 556117.
Regular cycling protects against heart disease, stroke and other illnesses, and raises self-confidence and well being.
Most children own bicycles and many would like to use them for the school journey, but very few do. Traffic danger is the main reason, with cyclists among the most vulnerable road users. But where schools have the benefit of a network of cycle routes and slower speeds, the whole picture changes, and cycling can become a popular choice for travel to school. Cycling gives children more freedom and has great benefits for health: regular cycling can add years to life.
The key to meeting safety concerns is safety measures that give a real reduction in road danger. In the Netherlands, as cycling has become safer, casualties have fallen, even though the number of people cycling has risen. Plans for changes in road layout around the school should incorporate safer cycle routes. In co-operation with the local authority and cycling organisations, schools can identify the best routes for traffic-free and traffic-calmed cycling. This may mean clearing, surfacing and lighting muddy tracks to make them usable cycle paths, creating cycle tracks alongside roads, or marking cycle lanes on roads while enforcing slower traffic speeds. Junctions can be redesigned to give priority to cyclists. Cycle routes should be continuous.
Cycle routes alone are not enough to make cycling to school a practical option. Cycle parking will be needed, preferably in a covered area overlooked by classrooms or offices, and convenient for the main entrance. Stands or racks should allow the cycle frame, and not just the front wheel, to be locked to them using a 'D-lock' or something similar. Smaller stands may be required for primary age pupils. While providing secure stands, schools need to make pupils and parents aware that if a bike is stolen the school will not be held liable. Many insurance companies will cover bicycles under a standard household contents policy, provided they are locked securely. Separate insurance may be necessary for more expensive bikes. Postcode tagging can be carried out by local police.
Young cyclists need training to prepare for riding on roads. Most local authority road safety departments offer cyclist training for children aged ten and above, and can be invited into school to run courses. Those that don't may be able to provide guidance and training to enable the school to set up its own scheme. Instructors should be experienced adult cyclists who have received training from a road safety officer. Research shows that the most effective courses are those which include on-road training. Children learn more if they take the course over several weeks rather than one or two. Problem-solving approaches, which teach 'cycling awareness', appear to make children safer cyclists than more traditional, instruction based courses. As with pedestrian training, it is important to make it clear that courses will not automatically equip children to take to the road. These decisions have to be made in the light of local conditions and remain the responsibility of parents and children. Some road safety departments offer one-to-one training on the route between home and school. Others have run special courses for parents and children cycling together.
Cyclists are safer if they are more visible. Schools can help by selling discounted reflective clothing and accessories. Children should be advised to carry spare batteries for lights and change them as soon as they run low. Helmets can reduce the severity of head injuries in accidents (though their effectiveness diminishes with speed). Helmets should be properly fitted, have a 'CE' mark and should meet either the European standard BS EN1078:1997, or the American standard SNELL B95.
Cycles ridden to school should be fully roadworthy and properly maintained. Some schools offer classes in cycle repair. Road safety officers or cycling organisations can help run maintenance check-ups. It is useful if schools can keep spare sets of lights, locks, pumps and repair kits to lend to children who have lost their own, and set up a bike maintenance area.
Some schools operate a cycle parking permit scheme. This is a contract, drawn up between the school, the pupil and the parents, to set out the conditions for cycling to school and obtain the parents' consent. Sample permits are available (see resource file). Permit forms set out the school's cycling policy, while emphasising that the decision on whether the child is competent to cycle remains with the parent. Forms can also include advice on safety and insurance and provide a record of the bicycle's make and serial number. Schools need to decide what conditions they wish to attach to permits. These might, for example, include that:
Schools can provide secure lockers to store cycling equipment and reduce the number of books that children have to take home. Panniers are recommended for carrying books on bikes.
Cycling can be promoted with special events at school such as a 'cycle challenge': children are encouraged to try out a range of cycling skills including riding slowly and around obstacles. Schools may like to take part in national events such as charity bike rides.
At Kesgrave High School in Suffolk, a network of traffic-free cycle routes links nearby housing estates and enables pupils to cycle from up to five miles away without going along a main road. Around 60% of pupils come by bike, and traffic at the school gate is kept to a minimum. Brian Hawkins, the school's deputy head, says: "The whole of our local community is a learning resource because so many of the kids will cycle to local facilities." The school actively encourages cycling and provides secure cycle storage and lockers.
At Temple Moor High School in Leeds pupils in Year 7 are offered cycle training with a special focus on the journey to school. Road safety officers ride with them pointing out potential hazards and recommending the best route.
Right Track: Cycling awareness programme tutor's guide is available from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, Edgbaston Park, 353 Bristol Road, Birmingham B5 7ST, tel 0121 248 2000, £52.50 for a pack of 10.
Code of Good Practice: The practical aspects of cyclists' training is also available from ROSPA, price £5.
A sample school cycle parking permit is available from Sustrans with the information sheet Cycling to School: Advice for parents and schools. Also from Sustrans is The Good Cycling Code. PO Box 21, Bristol BS99 4HA, both are free of charge.
Cycle bells, reflective tabards and bands are also available from Sustrans.
Information about national cycling events is available from CTC, Cotterell House, 69 Meadrow, Godalming, Surrey, GU7 3HS, tel 01483 417217, fax 01483 426994.
Travelling to school by bus or coach has a better safety record than travel by car. Around a fifth of all journeys to school are made by bus, and some schools have had great success in promoting and improving bus services.
Local education authorities must provide free transport for children up to the age of eight who live more than two miles away from their nearest suitable school, and for eight to 16 year olds who live more than three miles away. Yet, in practice, a lot of children living within the two or three mile limits might travel by bus to school if the right service were available.
To improve bus services you need to work in partnership with your local authority and public transport operators. County councils and unitary authorities have public transport co-ordinators, who can help you decide what improvements are needed, and negotiate with local operators. In a metropolitan area you should contact the marketing department of the Passenger Transport Executive or, in London, London Transport.
Schools are well placed to publicise school bus services to parents and children. Timetables and leaflets can be displayed in the school foyer, and sent home on a regular basis. Timetables are often hard to understand. By involving students in the design, schools may be able to produce materials that are more readable and more appealing. It is also helpful if children can be taught how to use timetables.
In co-operation with local bus companies and the council, some schools have negotiated low fare deals for pupils. With the help of the school in promoting the offer, bus use picks up and can cover the cost of the discount. You may need to ask the council to underwrite any extra costs for an initial period.
Buses may not run along the best routes or at the best times to meet pupils' needs. By working with the council and bus operators, schools have succeeded in:
Your survey results and information about numbers of children coming from different areas can help in deciding what changes would be useful. Postcode maps (see page 9) can be overlaid with existing bus routes to identify gaps in the service. The school can then write to the parents of children living in the area to ask if they would use a new service.
The local authority can also help explore funding possibilities. A new service that is expected to be popular may be of interest to a commercial operator. If a service is unlikely to cover its own costs then the most probable source of funding is the local authority's passenger transport budget. In rural areas, money may be available through the Government's Rural Bus Subsidy Grant - additional money being given to councils to improve public bus services in the countryside. Funding could also come from the local education authority's school transport budget (which can be spent on services that are outside legal requirements at its own discretion) but this is rare. Another possibility, if the service is only for small numbers, is to make use of spare capacity in transport used by the health sector or social services. If all else fails, parents may be able to club together to fund their own services.
Parents will be happier about younger children using school buses if services are geared to their needs. This could mean:
Children's behaviour on buses can range from lively to loutish. This can obviously cause tension with drivers and other passengers, and may even lead to the withdrawal of services. Schools can keep problems in check by introducing a behaviour code for bus users. Assembling children into groups for different buses before they leave school can prevent a scramble and ensure no one gets left behind. Some bus companies have run successful sessions in schools to explain how behaviour on board affects safety. Children are encouraged to put forward their own views and help work out ground rules for using public transport.
Bus trips rose by 100 a day following a West Sussex scheme to market school buses to young people. In a survey of 11 - 16 year olds at Sackville and Imberhorne Schools in East Grinstead, students said bus fares were too expensive, bus stops too far from home and timetables hard to understand. On the basis of the findings the county council financed additional bus services. All students received an easy-to-read map and a bus card entitling them to quarter fares. Leaflets used images designed to appeal to the age group, and stressed the benefits to the planet. Steve Pennington, head of Imberhorne Lower School, says the scheme was good value for the time involved. "Kids see the sense of it and parents are more willing to give them 20p to go on the bus than to get the car out."
Around 50 children who used to travel by car now take the bus to Lingfield Primary School in Surrey - with a dramatic reduction in congestion at the school gate. Two new services were introduced following problems revealed by a survey of parents: buses ran at the wrong times, the bus stops were too far away and parents were nervous about children travelling unaccompanied. Buses, funded by the council, now meet parents' concerns. Children gather at agreed local pick up points and a parent ''guide' is employed to ride on the bus each day.
Resource file
A briefing sheet on promoting buses to young people is available from West Sussex County Council surveyors department, The Grange, Tower Street, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 1RH, tel 01243 777437.
Car journeys to the Royal School in Hampstead, London, have been cut by 24% thanks to car sharing, parent-run minibuses and greater use of public transport.
Some schools have successfully encouraged parents who drive to car share. This can be particularly useful when children are travelling longer distances to school.
Families often make their own car sharing arrangements informally, but the school can help by keeping a register of parents who are interested in sharing the school run with others living nearby. This can work as follows:
Another option for sharing the ride is a minibus. Some schools have made their own minibuses available to parents for the school run. For advice on licensing, driver training and permits, contact the Community Transport Association (see resource file). Using a private minibus firm, funded by parents, can be expensive but has proved feasible in some circumstances.
Detailed advice on running a minibus and car sharing is available from the Community Transport Association on its helpline, tel 0161 367 8780.
Since 1985, on average, six children a year have been killed by strangers, while more than six children a week have been killed on the roads. Children are, in fact, more likely to be killed by their parents or carers than by strangers.
Fears for children's safety out of doors have grown over time. The area in which today's children are free to explore outside their own homes has declined dramatically. While rising traffic has had a major impact, fears about strangers are also prominent in parents' minds.
Schools can help with positive strategies to raise children's safety awareness without making them unduly fearful. In reality the risk of a child being abducted by a stranger is low, though parents would understandably like it to be nil. At the same time, there are other less extreme problems that children may face on the school journey - from losing a bus pass to being bullied. Thinking about ways of coping can help both children and their parents feel more confident.
Safety messages are often very negative - focusing only on what not to do. Teachers can encourage children to brainstorm common sense ideas about ways to stay safe and deal with difficulties. These might include:
The starting point should be children's own concerns. A number of resources are available to help explore these issues. Let parents know about sessions on personal safety. It is particularly useful if they can be involved, since children will need help in working out the best options for their own journeys.
Bullying can obviously cause problems on the school journey and may lead children to put themselves at risk in other ways - by taking unsafe short-cuts, for example. Schools need to consider travel to school in the context of wider strategies to combat bullying.
Workshops to look at personal safety issues on the school journey were held at Faringdon Infant and Junior Schools in Oxfordshire. Together with a trainer from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, parents and children talked about their own concerns and practical solutions. Infant school head teacher Maggie Smith says: "This is about giving children confidence and equipping them with the knowledge that they are in control and can take charge. It has to be done sensitively and appropriately for the needs of the children you are working with."
Home Safe: Helping our kids feel safer is a video which
encourages children to think for themselves about personal
safety. Available with teachers' notes from:
The Suzy Lamplugh Trust
National Centre for Personal Safety
Hampton House
20 Albert Embankment
London SE1 7TJ
Tel: 020 7091 0014
Fax: 020 7091 0015
Video £8.50, video with teachers' notes £17.45.
On the Street: Well, get streetwise, a leaflet on street safety aimed at teenagers, is also available from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, free of charge.
How to Stop Bullying: A Kidscape training guide provides information on how to set up a school anti-bullying policy and includes 90 anti-bullying exercises. Available from Kidscape, 2 Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1W 0DH, tel 0171 730 3300 or 020 7730 3300, price £14.
Your local authority should welcome the opportunity to help you develop your plan. Obviously, councils have to draw up priorities, and schools may find they have to wait their turn for local improvements. But this shouldn't stop the authority from helping you to develop your proposals and making them part of their long term plans. If you meet a real lack of co-operation, think about ways of moving school travel further up the council's agenda. This could mean campaigning through the local media or organising events to draw attention to traffic danger in the area. One school did this by holding a street festival outside the school. With permission from the police, the road was closed at the end of the day, when it would normally have been jammed with parents' cars. The local press were invited and briefed about the problems, which then made a splash in the evening paper.
So where can you find the money for the changes you want to see? While some measures cost very little, others will rely on particular types of funding. Many of these are local authority based:
Changes to the road layout, cycle parking provision and alterations to school grounds and entrances can require substantial funds. A zebra crossing, for example, costs around £4,000 and a pedestrian refuge around £5,000. Your highway authority's local transport budget is the most likely source of funding. Most money for local transport schemes has to be bid for from central Government, which provides the council with a block sum on the basis of its local transport plan. This is a five year plan, which sets out how the authority will meet the transport needs of its area.
Safer travel to school is an important part of the Government's integrated transport policy. Government guidance says local transport plans should include a strategy for reducing car use and improving children's safety on the journey to school. Local authorities which fail to take account of Government guidance when drawing up their plans are unlikely to receive all the funds they ask for.
Ask to see your authority's local transport plan. Find out:
Councils must consult extensively in drawing up local transport plans, so make sure your school is involved in the process.
Different arrangements will be developed for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Arrangements in London are also different, as the new mayor will produce a transport strategy.
Funding may be available from a variety of other sources.
Funding Cycle Schemes: A guide to resources for developing cycling infrastructure is available from the Bicycle Association, Starley House, Eaton Road, Coventry, CV1 2FH, tel 01203 553838 or 024 7655 3838, free of charge.
School Fundraising: What you need to know shows parents, teachers, school governors and managers how to find new resources for their schools and how to cope with the legal and financial implications of funding. Published by the Directory of Social Change, and available from DSC Books, 24 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2DP, tel 0171 209 5151 or 020 7209 5151, fax 0171 209 5049 or 020 7209 5049, price £12.95 plus £2.50 p&p.
The New Opportunities Fund can be contacted on 0845 000 0121 or visit its website at http://www.nof.org.uk .
A free pack about the Department of Health's Safe and Sound Challenge is available from Judi Patton, Brewer Blackler Ltd., Boston House, The Little Green, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1QH, tel 0181 296 6572 or 020 8296 6572, or visit the Department of Health website at http://www.dh.gov.uk.
Guidance on local transport plans is available from DETR Free Literature, PO Box 236, Wetherby LS23 7NB, tel 0870 1226 236, fax 0870 1226 237.
The DETR is not responsible for the contents or reliability of the linked web sites and does not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them. Listing should not be taken as endorsement of any kind. We cannot guarantee that these links will work all of the time and we have no control over the availability of the linked pages.
Use this checklist as a menu of ideas, to help you draw up your school travel plan.
Matt Beale-Collins, Celia Beeson, Ruth Bradshaw, Peter Caunter, Tony Cross, Adrian Davis, Roger Geffen, Geoff Gillbert, Rachel Gover, Bill Kerridge, Coreen King, Diana Lamplugh, Carol Laws, Stephen Moore, Julia Moreland, Ann Mortlock, Gary Noble, Paul Osborne, Tim Pheby, Yarlini Rajesparon, Teresa Regan, Nick Richardson, Jay Sayers, Dave Sharpington, John Sykes, John Tyler, Bill Walker, Gwil Williams and everyone else who kindly provided advice and assistance.
Many of the photos in this guide were taken with the help and co-operation of Wheatfields Junior School and Sandringham Secondary School in St. Albans.
A Safer Journey to School
Published by Transport 2000, written by Carey Newson and
edited by Jessica Wenban-Smith.
We are grateful to the following organisations for their extensive advice in preparing this guide:
The School Travel Advisory Group
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