STAY SAFE RANGERS INITIATIVE AT BALGOWLAH HEIGHTS PUBLIC SCHOOL

Prepared by

Michael Paine

Vehicle Design and Research Pty Limited

for

NRMA Motoring & Services

June 2007

Stay Safe Rangers Initiative at Balgowlah Heights Primary School

1Introduction

1.1Background

Stay Safe Rangers is a school-based initiative developed by Kathryn Henderson, a parent at Balgowlah Heights Public School (BHPS). This is a government-operated primary school in Northern Sydney.

The Stay Safe Rangers concept was developed by Ms Henderson in 2005. Ms Henderson is a delegate on the Child Road Safety Roundtable, headed by Eric Roozendaal, State Minister for Roads. Planning for the project was undertaken during 2006, including a review by the NSW Department of Education and Training (DET) and development of a risk assessment plan. A trial scheme commenced at BHPS in the first term of 2007.

The objectives of the initiative are:

a)To improve “kiss and drop” zone safety for children in Primary Schools, particularly at home time

b)To modify and improve driver behaviour in the vicinity of the school

c)To streamline traffic flow and improve local amenity

d)Integrated with the current Primary School Leadership Curriculum, to allow senior Primary School Students to observe and make recommendations on their findings, relating to road safety for themselves and their younger peers

e)To provide a forum at which these School Leaders can discuss issues and broadcast their findings and recommendations in the School Newsletter and through other appropriate channels.

f) To prepare years 5 and 6 students for further road safety education such as the young drivers programs offered in High School

1.2Purpose of this report

At the time of preparation of this report the trial had been operating for approximately nine weeks. The purpose of the report is to review practices for the safe pick-up of children at home time, to review the trial at BHPS and to examine the feasibility of applying the scheme to other schools in NSW.

It is anticipated that the report will be of interest to the Child Road Safety Roundtable, as well as other schools that are considering road safety improvements.

1.3Methodology

The author has conducted pre-trial and in-trial observations of the Kiss and Drop zone in operation. He has participated in initial training of Stay Safe Rangers and has discussed the operation of the scheme with participants and other observers, such as Council Rangers, Police and Department of Education managers.

International research (primarily in the USA) has been reviewed to establish best practice. The operation of other Kiss and Drop schemes in New South Wales has also been reviewed.

2Kiss and Drop Zones

"Kiss and Drop" zones are parking areas near the school gates that have a maximum two minute parking. The intention is that drivers do not wait in these zones and that they stay in the vehicle so that throughput is streamlined and traffic queues are minimised. In reality it only takes a few inconsiderate drivers to overstay in these zones and the system breaks down leading to frustration and traffic delays.

There are a variety of alternative names for Kiss and Drop zones including "Kiss and Ride" zones and "Drop-off and Pick-up" areas. Also, the term "parent" is used for simplicity and includes carers.

2.1Concerns about operation of Kiss and Drop Zones

In a recent news article ‘School still deadly zones’ the traffic outside a NSW school was described:

. . outside St Mel's Catholic Primary School, Campsie, three drivers double parked, four disobeyed "no stopping" signs and six did illegal U-turns. Motorists also repeatedly stopped across the white lines on either side of the school crossing while the "lollipop" man helped children cross the road. While there were no police present, the offences carried fines totalling more than $3000. The poor driving on display will be particularly distressing for law-abiding parents of St Mel's students – just two years ago seven-year-old student Fadwa Kibbe was run down and killed on the same crossing. The school then employed the lollipop man, who yesterday said traffic breaches "happen all the time . . . some will come right up to the crossing. (The line) is where they're supposed to stop. "Last week we had a couple of drive-throughs." St Mel's principal Maria Femia said: "I wish the parking inspectors would come along. Adults just need to take responsibility for their actions." (Daily Telegraph, 22 May 2007)

Evidently, there is a need for reform of safety in school zones in NSW. On Sunday 21 May 2006, the Roads Minister, the Hon. Eric Roozendaal MLC, announced a major NSW School Road Safety Package. The Minister indicated that safety at school zones across NSW will be upgraded with state-of-the-art technology and new education programs. The five-point plan included:

  • Electronic school safety alert systems, incorporating flashing 40km/h signs and lights, will be developed and rolled out across NSW, with the first 100 to be fast-tracked
  • A combination of 50 fixed and mobile speed cameras will be installed and rotated between all NSW school zones – operating only in school zone hours
  • Increased fines and demerit points for driving offences in school zones
  • A ‘Drop-off-and-go, Pick-up-and-go’ system will allow parents to become more involved in student safety and ease congestion around participating schools [Emphasis added]
  • A School Child Safety Roundtable will address further initiatives raised by parents, schools, community groups and the Roads and Traffic Authority.

The Minister said it was important to embrace parents’ and school communities’ enthusiasm to educate children about road safety:

“The ‘Drop-off-and-go, Pick-up-and-go’ parking and marshalling systemwill be offered to schools across NSW. Under the system, which already operates in several NSW schools, parents volunteer on a tuck-shop style roster to greet students arriving at school in cars, open doors and marshal them safely through the school gates. This system saves parents the trouble of finding parking, clogging local roads and walking their children to the gate. Parents can simply drop off their kids in an orderly way and be reassured a parent will be there to escort them into the school. I know a number of schools have a system like this in place that works well. We all have an interest in improving school zone safety.” [emphasis added]

2.2The concept of Kiss and Drop Zones

Kiss and Drop zones are used at schools, transport interchanges, sporting facilities, and in urban centres, as an effective environmental design to the road transport system. A Kiss and Drop zone used by private vehicles is analogous to the bus stop used by public transportation buses. Ideally, for use in school precincts, a Kiss and Drop zone is only placed on one side of the roadway directly adjacent to a school entrance, and the passengers only get out on the side of the vehicle that is away from traffic.

A Kiss and Drop zone is considered to be a passive intervention, where individuals are not required to undertake any action to be protected. Passive intervention strategies have been shown to be more effective than active measures, which require continued effort from individuals (McClure, Stevenson & McEvoy, 2004); other examples of passive measures include a car airbag, which is activated automatically in a car crash, or tempering valves that automatically reduce the temperature of hot tap water to a safer level (Haddon, 1980). Passive interventions such as a Kiss and Drop zone are particularly suitable in situations involving children.

Wigmore and Baas (2004) noted that Kiss and Drop zones are found to be effective where there has been a comprehensive treatment of the school frontage, including access to internal car parks, indented bus bays and passenger drop-off zones. This finding supports the conclusion drawn in STAYSAFE 53 (2002) that the traffic management of the areas outside schools should be holistically addressed as ‘precincts’ (or where there are adjacent schools, as ‘cluster precincts’).

More recently, researchers at the Center for Transportation Research and Education, University of Iowa (Hallmark & Isebrands, 2006; Isebrands & Hallmark, 2007) have reviewed safety on school grounds and public streets adjacent to elementary and middle schools in Iowa, and have produced a comprehensive guide to assessing the road safety issues and a toolbox for potential measures to reduce risk and improve safety during school travel. Again, this work complements STAYSAFE 53 (2002) approach.

The “School run”

The majority of school children are, either regularly or from time to time, exposed to road safety dangers in their travel to or from school. This exposure to risk occurs because children may be variously:

  • pedestrians, for only short periods as they are dropped off or picked up by their parents at the school, or for travel on foot involving the entire journey to or from school and home, or pedestrian activities associated with the use of public transport such as trains or buses;
  • passengers in motor vehicles (cars, buses); and
  • bicyclists

School children may also be exposed to transport safety dangers as users of rail transport, and in more limited instances as users of other transport modalities such as ferries (Christie, Cairns, WardTowner, 2004; STAYSAFE 53, 2002).

The traffic environment around schools is one of the most complex road transport environments normally encountered by the majority of motorists, and is easily the most complex traffic environment normally encountered by children. For periods of 30 minutes or more during the morning traffic peak, and for a very intense 10-15 minutes in the mid-afternoon, the immediate frontages of schools experience traffic volumes and a diversity of road use that is only seen in busy commercial and shopping centres or associated with mass movements of people to sports and other large community events.

It is perhaps the complexity and ephemeral nature of the traffic environment around schools that has tended to hide the significant risks posed by this environment to all road users, but particularly to school children seeking to travel from home to school and return.

There are a wide variety of issues regarding traffic control in the vicinity of schools (STAYSAFE 53, 2002). There are concerns linked to a particular local area or school, through to more generic, systematic concerns which affect most schools and communities in New South Wales. Parents, schools, and school communities predominantly focus on:

  • the need for more effective implementation of a variety of proposed road safety strategies around their particular schools.

Government agencies (both State and local) and non-governmental organisations are more likely to be concerned with:

  • the development and implementation of such strategies,
  • the funding and provision of work under these strategies,
  • the effectiveness of current policies, regulations and guidelines which guide their work, and
  • the ability of current resources to identify increasing needs and implement the works required.

Despite these different perspectives of the traffic management and road safety environment around schools, a common thread of argument arises from evidence - the road transport system in New South Wales has changed markedly over the last two decades, with major and continuing increases in vehicle ownership, vehicle use, and community perceptions as to the dangers relating to road use. Moreover, wider societal changes have occurred. Educational policies and practices have changed: most school children, even from kindergarten, are required to carry large backpacks containing textbooks, workbooks, sporting clothes and equipment to and from school; pre- and after-school activities are common, both as non-parental care and as sporting and other activities; out-of-zone schooling has apparently increased following changes to the policy previously restricting attendance to local schools only; and developments in the organisation of school facilities is placing different and increasing demands on school travel (e.g., the introduction of a new collegiate system in high schools). There are increasing concerns about personal safety (e.g., stranger danger), and changes in the perception of what is appropriate parental supervision of children within neighbourhood environments, including local travel and the use of roads. As a consequence, the strategies, policies and programs to ensure safer environments around schools must be developed and coordinated to reflect these changes.

There is a need to view traffic control and safety around schools - the management of the traffic environment and the promotion of road safety around schools - as an intricate part of the long term planning and strategies for road trauma reduction, such as the New South Wales Road Safety 2010 strategic planning framework announced in 1999 and the National Road Safety Strategy announced in 2000. These strategies involve delineating, and confirming or changing the relationships between many agencies, such as local governments, schools and school communities.

A new systemic approach to community road safety is required, that is not only concerned with how to provide better engineering immediately around schools, better access to transport and road safety education to school children, and enforcement of traffic rules, but also how to plan for old and new communities with comprehensive road safety and traffic strategies in place. There is a need to reassess the basis on which road safety strategies are created and decisions are made. In order to successfully assess and address the influence of complex economic, social, technological and other changes on road safety and traffic management, we need to achieve a paradigm shift in the way we think about road safety.

There has been, as found by STAYSAFE 53 (2002), a systemic inability to deal effectively with the risk of harm associated with school travel, as opposed to the actual occurrence of road injury. Simply put, warrants for road traffic work that are based on death or serious injury to a child as a criterion for ranking of priority are not an acceptable benchmark for achieving better road safety around schools. Performance indicators which measure road trauma as a basis for allocation of road safety priorities are no longer acceptable. A broader and more forward reaching approach to ensuring a safer environment around schools and communities must also include an assessment of risk without the necessary occurrence of road crashes. This reflects an increased risk-management approach within the school environment where, for example, schools are required to develop risk management plans for excursions. In the case of BHPS, such plans have been applied to the Stay Safe Rangers initiative, as described in section 2.7.

2.3NSW practices

The current approach to very short stay “drop off” and “pick up” zones outside schools is to designate such zones as 2-minute parking areas, or passenger set down or pick up areas (see Figure). There is perhaps a need to develop a specific “No Parking - Kiss and Drop” sign as a regulatory traffic control measure within the New South Wales road transport law that specifically relates to schools. Such an approach would then allow the development and marketing of public education campaigns targeting parents and informing them of the specific behaviours required within such a parking zone around schools.

The installation of a well-supervised Kiss and Drop zone helps to minimise conflicts between vehicles, and conflicts between vehicles and school children.

Kiss and Drop zones have been well supported by local councils and schools and, in concept, by parents. However, as drivers, parents have tended to be less co-operative.

In recent years, and particularly since the beginning of the 21st century, informal “Kiss and Drop” zones have commenced outside schools. For example, after parents and the school raised concerns with illegal parking and parking in driveways, Holroyd Council was asked to assist in the creation of a Kiss and Drop zone in Calliope Street, Holroyd, outside St Patrick’s Primary School. Holroyd Council agreed. In early 2004, North Sydney Council noted that an informal Kiss and Drop zone was operating in Elamang Avenue, Kirribilli, supervised by Loreto School. This involved parents double-parking while waiting to pick up their children. North Sydney council recognised that such an informal practice needed to be formalised, with Council providing a safe location for the pick up and drop off of school children. A formal Kiss and Drop zone was created.

A brief review of local council practices was conducted. In the metropolitan Sudney areas, Strathfield council provides advice on the use of Kiss and Drop Zones:

Kiss and Drop Zones arefor your convenience and childrens’ safety. No parking zones and Kiss and Drop zones assist drivers and passengers to enter or exit a vehicle safely.