Children are identified as one of the national priorities in Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2020. Whilst there is a greatly improving picture in reducing child road fatalities in Scotland this does not mean there is room for complacency and is why Scotland will have distinct reduction in road fatality and serious injury targets for children from January 2011. There is a determination across all partners to do our utmost to further improve Scotland’s standing on child road safety through a range of measures including education and engineering. I believe it is particularly important that we do all we can to promote road safety for children on the school journey. That is why this guide was commissioned, to raise awareness and make recommendations for how local authorities and school transport operators can reduce journey risk and improve the safety of children travelling to and from school. The intention of the guide is to provide a comprehensive document setting out the current legislative position, outlining current policy, good practice procedures and case studies in the field of school transport safety as well as reflecting the work we have been undertaking in partnership with local authorities, particularly Aberdeenshire Council. I believe that this guide will be invaluable for local authorities and operators as a reference point for their responsibilities in terms of school transport and will provide local authorities with a toolkit of measures that they could consider in seeking to implement best practice. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting