Children around the world face many dangers on the roads, especially when traveling to and from school. In Vietnam, for example, over 10% of all road accidents in 2021 involved children under 18. With more than 17 million children commuting to school multiple times each day, making their journeys safer is very important.
The AIP Foundation, a partner in a road safety program, has been working to improve safety in school areas in Vietnam since 2005. They created the Safe School Zones Guide (SSZ Guide) to help make school zones safer. The guide was developed with help from the University of Transport and Communications, the Ministry of Transportation, and the FIA Foundation. It uses lessons from successful programs and international examples.
The SSZ Guide is a helpful tool for people involved in making school zones safer, such as when building new schools, improving old ones, or working on roads near schools. While the guide follows Vietnam’s safety rules, it also gives ideas that could help other countries make their school zones safer.
The guide has five main parts:
Introduction: Explains what the guide is for and who should use it.
Overview: Talks about the dangers children face on the road and shows examples of safe school zones.
Planning: Offers tips on how to plan school zones to meet safety standards.
Design: Explains how to design safe school zones with clear steps and improvements.
Assessment: Describes how to check and measure safety in school zones.
The guide also recommends using SR4S, a method that helps assess road safety accurately and automatically. This method reduces the need for personal opinions in evaluations and provides trustworthy results. SR4S has already been used in many safety projects in Vietnam, helping assess over 200 schools across the country.
