Safety first is key lesson
WE get an extra hour in bed this weekend, but the clocks changing should be a wake-up call to keep our children safe on the roads.
Road accidents are the leading cause of child injury in Ireland. According to the Road Safety Authority (RSA), 262 children died on our roads between 1997 and 2012, with 1,107 seriously injured. In the eight months to early Sep 2013, four young lives were lost. The RSA’s latest report found children are most at risk of being killed on roads between 4 and 6pm, exactly when they may be travelling home from school.
“Roads are busier at this time, light can be a factor and it’s a key time when fatigue plays a role in collisions,” says RSA communications manager Brian Farrell. He sees the hour going back as a signal to be on special alert for our most vulnerable road users — to travel at a safe speed and always expect the unexpected around schools.
“With the clocks changing, you almost have to change your mentality. With reduced hours of daylight and weather getting worse, you must take extra precautions. If driving, make sure your lights are in good order — periods of wet weather can make them filthy, creating a film that reduces their intensity. Ensure windscreen wipers aren’t worn away.”
With the majority of primary school children living within 2km of their school, An Taisce’s Green-Schools Travel programme encourages sustainable commuting to and from school. Since the programme rolled out in 2008, 850 schools have participated involving 175,000 pupils. Last year saw a 28% reduction in car journeys among schools that started the programme in 2010. In the same period, there was a 27% and 45% increase respectively among children walking and cycling to school.
“We encouraging walking and cycling to school from junior infants, but it’s a parent’s responsibility to get a child to school. If a parent feels they have to walk with the child ‘til they’re 18, then that’s appropriate. It’s up to parents to decide when they’re fully confident a child is safe doing the school run on their own,” says Jane Hackett, national manager of the Green-Schools Travel programme.
Brian Farrell agrees that only parents can make a judgement call about when it’s safe to let a child walk/cycle alone to school. But he adds a caveat. “Research — both here and internationally — finds children don’t fully develop hazard perception skills or awareness of danger until they’re aged 11 or 12. [Getting to school alone] is about being able to understand danger, as well as speed and distance.”
Like scores of schools nationwide, St Brigid’s Girls’ NS, Cabinteely, Dublin, sees high volumes of traffic on access roads — five roads in total — each morning, at the same time as hundreds of children are walking through the school gates. “Most schools tend to get chaotic parking outside the gates, dangerous practices because parents are in a rush,” says principal Aedeen Sweeney.
“They tend to park on double yellow lines and on corners. At times, they block the view of traffic wardens and safe crossing. Occasionally, a child alights from a car onto the road rather than the footpath.”
The 549-pupil school worked with the RSA and Dun Laoghaire/ Rathdown, Co Council, first tackling infrastructure — re-doing and putting in extra double yellow lines and zigzag lines, creating a new pedestrian gate from a nearby park, which gives direct access to the school gate.
Parent Association chairperson Tracy McCabe orchestrated a strong educational campaign.
There had always been concerns about safety, she says, but the final push came after a pupil was injured last year while alighting from a car.
“If we just tapped on a parent’s car window and said ‘you can’t park here — it’s dangerous’, we’d have rubbed them up the wrong way. Children are the drivers of the future so we wanted to educate them about how to be a pedestrian and how to be a safe driver. We felt the best way to get to the parent was through pester power — the kids saying ‘oh Mum, you shouldn’t park on that double yellow line’ or ‘that’s a clearway’.”
Class by class, children got educated, even being brought outside the school gates and shown the significance of the road markings. Parents filled in a road safety questionnaire as a requirement for children to enter an art competition. Safety awareness has improved. “The set down area used to cause particular confusion, with parents thinking ‘I’ll just pull in here and wait ‘til my child comes out of school’,” says Tracy.
Now it’s used correctly — parents drive to the top, allow passenger to alight and pull off immediately. “People used to park as close as possible to the school. Now they park further away.”
Sports coach Emma Meir’s nine-year-old twins, Katie and Sophie, take the 20-minute walk to school once or twice a week. Emma accompanies them. “The girls say they have Mummy time, time to talk. It’s healthier for us — we feel more energised and ready for the day. In winter, it’s dark going out at 8.30am. Being seen is so important. The girls wear high-visibility vests. Like most kids, they’re not into them, but they understand it’s for their safety.”
¦ Choose safe school route; keep hold of child’s hand.
¦ Wear high-visibility vest, reflective arm bands/belt.
¦ Don’t let child cross road between parked cars.
¦ Show child how to cross road by example — a child will do as you do, not as you say.
¦ Teach child to take special care when getting on/off public transport.
¦ While waiting for bus, get them to stand well in on the footpath or grass verge.
¦ Before crossing road, they should wait until bus has moved off and they can see clearly in both directions.
¦ On board, child should remain seated until journey’s over.
¦ Child must be secured in back seat in restraint appropriate to their weight and height.
¦ Ensure they can’t open doors/windows.
¦ Never leave children alone in a vehicle.
¦ Set down and collect child on school side of road whenever possible.
¦ Has your child the appropriate skills and training.
¦ Teach children bicycle is a vehicle – they must follow same rules as other road users: that traffic lights apply to cyclists and that Red means Stop.
¦ Ensure bicycle is suitable size for child; can s/he comfortably apply brakes?
¦ Check bike’s brakes, lights, reflectors, tyres and bell are in good working order.
¦ Make sure child’s highly visible — higher the visibility, the lower the risk.
¦ It’s strongly recommended that cyclists wear helmet suitable for their head size and ensure it’s fitted correctly.
¦ Visit www.rsa.ie for more details.
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