Safe School Travel (SafeST) committees help make schools safer

A Safe School Travel committee can help a school community identify its road safety concerns, and become an integral part of a school's safe travel strategy.

The committee should include students, parents/carers, teachers, local government and other interested parties (for example, local police).

The role of a Safe School Travel committee is to:

• identify and analyse issues in the school environment by collecting data
• recommend solutions to safety issues
• consult with the school and community over actions to be taken
• explore new road safety initiatives and implement them within the school environment
• make submissions to local government and other relevant agencies
• assist in the introduction, monitoring and evaluation of road safety programs.

Committees may find it helpful to use the Safe School Travel checklist for school communities to identify road safety problems around their school.

The checklist helps the Safe School Travel committee to investigate road safety issues for pedestrians, cyclists, car drivers, motorbike riders, and car, train and bus passengers. It also takes into consideration the school's surrounding traffic environment.

For information and advice on establishing this committee, contact your local road safety advisor.  A road safety advisor will help the Safe School Travel committee and provide relevant resources, information and application forms if appropriate.