We all want the best for our kids, but every day children are dying or being seriously injured in road crashes as they travel to their place of education. Sometimes they are killed just yards from the school entrance.
We can’t allow these tragedies to continue. Each death and each injury violates a child’s right to an education. This is why iRAP is developing the iRAP Star Rating for Schools Global App.
It’s the first ever systematic evidence-based approach for analysing the risk on roads around schools. This easy-to-use universal application is a low-cost way to support quick interventions that start saving lives and preventing serious injuries from day one.
“Our vision is of a world where all children travel safely to and from school. In the coming months, we will be sharing the stages of our journey towards realising this vision”.
The app combines an easy to use School Assessment mobile app and a Global reporting for Schools web application. Both of these components harness the computation functionality of ViDA, the iRAP star rating web application.
Star ratings are an internationally recognised measure of risk on roads which have been developed by iRAP. The least safe roads are rated as 1-star and the safest as 5-star.
It’s easy to train people to use the School Assessment app using a hand held device. The app can deliver a quick and easy measurement of safety at the site and can point towards potential treatment options.
“There is nothing more fearful for a FedEx Courier than a child darting out in front of your truck” – David J. Bronczek, President and COO, FedEx Corporation.
What will success look like?
Success will be measured by:
- Number of schools assessed
- Number of children made safer
- Incremental star rating improvements and estimated reduction in risk
- Actual before and after crash data if available
- Aggregate results of conflict studies
- Investment made and investment leveraged
- Number of volunteer hours
- School attendance rates
The App is sponsored by FedEx and supported by a number of partners including the Global NGO Alliance for Road Safety NGOs. Because of their grass roots nature NGOs have a vital role to play in identifying need and advocating for safer roads. They are at the forefront of the global effort to prevent road deaths.
By channelling local demand for road safety, they help to create the leverage that leads to life saving action across a wide range of safety concerns including seatbelts, crash helmets and speeding, as well as road safety infrastructure.The Alliance works to empower its members with skills in networking and sharing, advocacy, and capacity building. Sharing best practice and resources between members means that each NGO is able to punch well above its weight in arguing for safer roads.
This is particularly important in countries where there is little existing framework for promoting road safety.The Alliance’s Executive Director Lotte Brondum says that the app could be a ‘Great support for advocacy work for safer school zones’.
‘When you are speaking to people who are developing road designs, you need to be able to pin point the exact problem and what can be done about it. The Star Rating for Schools app could be a great tool for building that argument.
‘She added that members of the Alliance had an excellent opportunity to try out a test version of the app collecting data at South Winds School in Memphis, Tennessee during their recent Empowerment Programme, which was sponsored by FedEx.‘They found it very easy to use and intuitive.
It is visually attractive and draws you through a simple and logical data gathering process which is directed by universally recognisable graphics. The next stage is for our members to test the app in their local environment. It’s possible that this will throw up the need for extra tools and refinements and we will be feeding this back to the development team.’