Safe Systems, not school shaming
The ICBC, School Districts including SD61, and Victoria Police Department have all taken a dangerous and regressive approach to safety around schools this Fall. What is the problem with this approach exactly?
Kids are being told, emphatically by some teachers and authority figures, to wear reflective vests and bright clothing. This has become the central component of most campaigns, and the key message that makes its way into media coverage and the public consciousness.
The incorrectly worn helmet is always a nice touch.
The reason for these campaigns is clear: Drivers, many of them parents, keep hitting children on their way to schools. With darker mornings due to permanent DST (UTC-7:00), we expect this trend will worsen.
The solution to this problem is the Safe System approach used by experts worldwide. This means safer speeds, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer land uses, post-crash care, and yes, safer road users.
One of many similar graphics explaining the safe system approach.
In theory, there's nothing wrong with asking children to wear reflective vests, or to wear helmets, or to be extra cautious. In practice, these campaigns give the impression that safety falls entirely on the parent allowing their child to walk or cycle themselves to school. They are also discriminatory, leading some to talk about bright clothing as if it were a requirement; when it is explicitly against school policy to tell kids what to wear (a huge thank you to my friend in the education system reminding colleagues of this).
Though some campaigns remind drivers to slow down and pay attention (VicPD's campaign focuses entirely on what they think children should do, depicting police in tactical gear roleplaying kids), none of them consider the root of the issue. Rather than hitting more pillars of the safe system approach, they might actually exacerbate the problem:
Parents are afraid to send their kids on foot or by bike. Remember how the single greatest threat to children's safety is the automobile? One of, if not the main reason why parents drive their children to school is because they fear for their child's safety. A natural instinct - but when it leads to this much driving, it threatens the safety and independence of our children, filling schools and surrounding streets with stressed, inattentive, and competitive drivers.
In the Netherlands, traffic near schools is generally discouraged, and drop off zones, if they exist, are kept away from the school grounds to create a buffer zone. The UK is increasingly adopting this mindset with car-free zones during school hours. Implementing the safe system approach means keeping cars away from kids and encouraging them to use active transportation. This is the approach we need - it gives children the freedom and independence they deserve, and parents the extra free time and peace of mind they didn't know they were missing.