School Travel: Safer, Greener and Healthier Journeys
Tuesday 23rd March 2010
9:15 AM - 2:00 PM
Location: Central London
Each day during the school term millions of pupils and their parents travel from home to school in the morning, and make the return trip in the afternoon. Many pupils living close to school walk, with those living further away travelling mainly by bus or by car. The school journey affects public transport patterns, causes localised congestion around schools.
'School Travel’, the Transport Select Committee’s latest report published on Sunday 22 March tells education and transport ministers they must do more to produce a modal shift away from cars towards public transport, through dedicated school transport including 'Yellow Buses.'
There is growing concern surrounding the issues of congestion and its impact on our environment and air quality, the health and inactivity of children and their long term health. The Government is committed to bring about a step change in pupils, parents and school staff school travel plans. The Education and Inspections Act places a new duty on local authorities to prepare and publish a sustainable school travel strategy leading to both health and environmental benefits. The Act also contains provision which will enable a small number of “Pathfinder” local authorities to develop school travel schemes to pilot innovative approaches to home to school travel with the particular aims of supporting school choice, reducing the distances pupils are expected to walk to school and increasing the proportion of children travelling by sustainable means. In addition to this, the Government published its Low Carbon Transport: A Greener Future Low Carbon Transport: A Greener Future strategy this summer. It shows how transport will make a major contribution to UK efforts to reduce CO2 emissions by 2022 and 2050 in line with the Climate Change Act 2008. Effective and well designed travel plans will not only have an impact on the environment but on the health and well being of the child.
Furthermore, children are the most vulnerable road users. The Government has made great efforts to reduce the number of children killed or injured in road accidents. However, sadly, it remains true that road accidents are one of the major causes of death and injury for children and young people. The Child Road Safety Strategy 2007 sets out an action plan of measures to reduce, by 50%, the number of children killed or seriously injured on our roads by 2010. This forum will offer delegates the opportunity to examine whether this target has been met.
Created Fri 8 Jan 2010 by Victoria Head | Email to a friend