With the arrival of the new school year, schools may look at the benefits of closing school roads to vehicles during peak drop-off and pick-up times.
“We find that once a school community has experienced the calm, traffic-free environment of a School Street, there is widespread support for permanent implementation”, says Joe Bigwood, Sustrans Head of Delivery England South.
School Streets are roads outside schools that are closed to vehicles during peak drop-off and pick-up times. This is to ensure that children and their families can safely walk, wheel, and cycle to school. With the help of Sustrans, over 70 local authorities have implemented School Streets, resulting in more than 500 schools having schemes in place.
360 is now actively investigating modules to promote active, safer and independent travel skills, particularly around the transition to secondary school. Founder Rob Hattersley says ‘Whilst we need to up our game in terms of actively training our young people to travel independently, safely and sustainably, we cannot blame them for the dangerous street environment so many have to navigate on their way to school. We’re therefore pleased to support school streets which make walking or cycling to school safer.’
