Culture & Education | Sunday 30 August, 2015 1:01 pm |

With the imminent ‘back to school’ period, the usual scenes of chaotic traffic around schools around drop-off and pick-up times will be omnipresent again. It is the mix of time pressure and the mixture of dense vehicle traffic, pedestrian traffic, arriving school buses and bicycles which makes the traffic around schools so demanding. The biggest contributor to congestion are parents trying to drop off their kids on time, often very close to the school starting time, as well as picking up students right after the end of school. 

There is also the lack of motorists’ education with regards to dealing with school buses. Despite the fact that school buses are equipped with stop-signs and warning lights which get deployed when school buses stop to allow students to embark or disembark, many motorists ignore those, resulting in dangerous situations. 

Thomas Edelmann, founder and managing director of RoadSafetyUAE states: “Road safety is of strategic importance to the education sector. We want to transport our kids safely to and from school, but we also want them to be properly educated about road safety at school, in order for our kids to be able to protect themselves and to nurture the ‘next generation’ of responsible traffic participants.” Edelmann continues: “Parents and students should display proper time management by arriving at the school well before it starts and by collecting kids a little while after the end of school, to avoid peak-time congestion. Parents should lead by example and teach their kids about safe conduct.”

RoadSafetyUAE is working with Mercedes-Benz, an expert in school buses, in providing safe conduct guidelines with regards to interacting with school buses. Thomas Greipel, Director Sales & Marketing Mercedes-Benz Vans explains: “School buses are the main transport medium for the students and it is crucial that the school authorities and parents give adequate importance to the well-being and safety of the children in buses. We as Mercedes-Benz strive very hard to develop transport solutions to ensure an enjoyable and a safe journey from the first to the last mile."

The RoadSafetyUAE on-line portal provides a full list of tips & tricks with regards to road safety at schools and around school buses: http://www.roadsafetyuae.com/around-schools-and-school-buses/