New Safer Journeys Guide to help rural schools

Associate Transport Minister Michael Woodhouse welcomes the publication of a new guide aimed at improving road safety around rural schools.

“While we can be thankful there have been relatively few deaths and serious injuries near rural schools over the last few years, even one incident is one too many,” Mr Woodhouse says.

“Safer Journeys for Rural Schools is part of the rural schools road safety programme – a series of initiatives to improve safety outside rural schools – and is a further milestone in the government’s implementation of the Safer Journeys strategy.

“We all share responsibility for improving road safety and this new guide will be a great resource for rural communities who want to ensure their journeys to and from school are as safe as possible.

“Last year’s record low road toll shows we’re heading in the right direction, but there is always more work to do.  Further reducing the risk of death and serious injury for rural school children is a significant step.”

The publication of the Safer Journeys rural schools guide is the second of a three step programme.

The government has already introduced a trial of variable speed limit signs to reduce the speed of traffic past schools where there is an identified pedestrian safety risk. This trial involves more than 20 schools and ends in July this year.

The final step of the programme will use the rural schools guide to assess the degree of road safety risk around all rural schools and identify actions needed to improve safety at the highest risk schools.

The guide is available at http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/safer-journeys-for-schools/.