Globally, road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among 15–19 year-olds and the second leading cause among 5–14 year-olds (WHO, 2008).

What is school travel planning and where do we fit in?


A school travel plan is a package of measures that aim to reduce the congestion caused by the ‘school run’, reduce traffic danger for schoolchildren and support students already travelling by more sustainable modes (Land Transport New Zealand, 2006). We assist schools, communities and other stakeholders to develop and implement school travel plans, thereby contributing towards the goal of the Decade of Action for road safety of halving global road traffic deaths and injuries by 2020.


Why focus on school travel planning?


A school travel plan provides an opportunity for parents, schools, the community and other stakeholders to work together to improve the safety of schoolchildren. Children, especially those in lower grades are vulnerable to road traffic crashes due to their physical and cognitive limitations. We therefore have a specific focus on safe school travel in order to reduce child injury and fatalities during the school commute. While once off events e.g. Walk to school Days are useful, we strongly advocate for longer term interventions. Interventions that we assist with include:



  • Safe walking-Walking school bus

  • Safe cycling-Cycle trains

  • Learner visibility

  • Comprehensive school travel programmes (encompassing multiple measures e.g low-cost infrastructural improvements around school zones, road safety education etc.)


Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) includes all forms of transport that are human- or animal-powered. This includes walking, cycling, (and variants such as wheelchair travel and handcarts). NMT has increasingly become an important policy issue for the following reasons, e.g:



  • NMT modes (particularly walking) are a travel mode used by many as a primary way of moving from one place to another (particularly for poorer households) and for getting to other modes e.g. public transport

  • The need to reduce the vulnerability of NMT users to road traffic crashes

  • They are considered as ‘Green modes’ of transport and therefore dovetail with the current global drive towards lower carbon emissions.


Why we focus on NMT?


Our focus on NMT is largely informed by the fact NMT users, especially pedestrians are a major component of road crash statistics. For instance, pedestrians make up one-fifth of global traffic crash fatalities (WHO, 2013). This vulnerability stems from a number of factors, including the following:



  • lack of or inadequate NMT infrastructure

  • unsafe human behaviour

  • insufficient land use planning e.g. which separate activity destinations and residential areas resulting in long walking distances (sometimes using indirect routes that ignore pedestrian desire lines) poorly planned PT operations


Our objective in this regard is to help reduce NMT user road traffic crashes. Towards this end, we assist transport stakeholders with planning and designing NMT projects. Services include:



  • NMT audits and assessments

  • designing NMT networks

  • NMT behaviour surveys

  • capacity building and community engagement (including workshops and campaigns aimed promoting awareness and increasing the safe use of NMT modes)


Across the globe, road traffic collisions are the leading cause are injury-related fatalities; accounting for 1.25 million deaths and between 20 and 50 million non-fatal injuries each year. More than 90% of these global deaths from road traffic injuries occur in low and middle-income countries. This makes road traffic crashes one of the most significant contemporary public health challenges. In response, the UN Road Safety Collaboration developed a Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020) whose main goal is to reduce the number of traffic crash fatalities by 50% by 2020. In support of the goal, we work together with partners and all those with an interest in reducing road traffic injuries and fatalities in South Africa.


Basis for our collaborative approach


We strongly believe in a multi-sectoral collaborative approach to road safety informed by a realisation that road safety is a complex, multi-disciplinary field and that no single sector or organisation can solve the problem of high road crashes alone. We also advocate for community involvement in ALL road safety interventions. We assist stakeholders with among others, the following:



  • designing and managing outsourced road safety projects

  • community engagement in the set up and implementation phases of road safety projects.

  • needs assessments

  • evaluation of road safety projects at the community level