The Safer journeys for rural schools guide (SJRSG or ‘the guide‘) has been prepared by the New Zealand Transport Agency (the Transport Agency) and Auckland Transport to provide guidance efforts to improve safety on the journey to, from and at rural schools. The objective is to provide practitioners, policy makers, schools and their communities, with best practice guidance to identify, target and address key road safety issues at rural schools. In addition to providing rural school specific guidance, the guide provides links to a number of road safety resources and other guidance for planning, funding and evaluating safety projects and programmes. Specifically, the guide is intended to provide: • details of a safe system approach to school road safety, including safe roads and roadsides , safe speeds, safe road use, and safe vehicles • a discussion of key crash issues in the vicinity or along the routes to rural schools • tools to help identify and prioritise risk around rural schools, as well as planning an intervention approach • a safe system toolbox of intervention options for road controlling authorities (RCA) and schools in rural environments, to help develop appropriate remedial treatments • guidance for developing, prioritising and funding road safety infrastructure, speed management and education programmes • references to further and more detailed information. The guide has also been developed to provide national consistency regarding the prioritisation of risk around rural schools and the application of proven countermeasures. The guide provides a mechanism for RCAs to manage the safety of rural schools on their road networks. Although a process for prioritising risk around schools is presented within this guide, districts will need to further the prioritisation around schools in their area based on more detailed local knowledge. Guidance on funding is discussed in section 2.4. It is important to remember that rural school road safety issues overlap with wider network considerations. Therefore, in addition to this guide, the High-risk rural roads guide and the High-risk intersection guide are also likely to be useful resources when considering rural school road safety. The guide refers to a number of appropriate policies, standards and guidelines applicable to New Zealand practice. Specifically, the guide supports and references: • Safer Journeys 2020, New Zealand’s Road Safety Strategy 2010—2020 (March 2010). • The Safer Journeys Action Plan 2013/15 (2013). • Policies and guidelines containing information on schools and buses developed by the Ministry of Education. • New Zealand legislation, in particular the Land Transport Act 1998 and rules made pursuant to that Act, including the Land Transport (Road User) Rule, the Land Transport Rule: Traffic Control Devices, and the Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits. • General polices contained in Austroads guides (Guides to traffic management, road design, road safety) and other Austroads technical guides. • New Zealand and, as appropriate, Australian standards, codes of practice and guidelines. The guide is intended to provide a nationally consistent approach to improving safety on the journey to and from rural schools. However, at a local level practitioners should always apply sound judgement when identifying and installing any countermeasures to ensure the best possible safety outcomes. The reasons for any departures from recommended practice should be documented. All schools are different and are likely to have their own unique set of issues. A great deal of expertise has been developed through recent rural school safety initiatives, both at a national and a local level. If you are uncertain how to use of this guide, it is advisable to check with the Transport Agency or other organisations such as SASTA, who can provide a link to further expertise to confirm the right approach to solving rural school safety issues. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting