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Speech for Minister Martin Cullen, TD at the Campaign Launch
RSA / Mace 'Safe to School with the Maceys'
6 February 2007, St. Brigid's National School, Dublin

I am delighted to be here this afternoon at St. Brigid's National School to celebrate the launch of the MACE/Road Safety Authority ‘Safe to School with the Maceys' Campaign, which is aimed at helping our primary school children learn effective road safety lessons.  Emma, Nikki and Mark Macey have a lot to teach us about being safe as we travel to school but we can all set a good example for others in travelling safely. 

When I looked earlier through the DVD pack, walking to school guides, classroom charts and posters that have been produced as part of the campaign and which will be distributed from today to over 3,300 primary schools across the country, I could not help but think that while many important messages are contained in the pack, all the information is presented in such a fun way.  We have come a long way from ‘Judge the Dog'! … a gentle creature who so kindly taught many young people – who are now all grown up -  the safe cross code.

The Walking to School Guide and Safe Cross Code, which are in the schools' pack will help parents and children to make safe choices when they travel to and from school every day. 

The first phase of this new ‘Safe to School' campaign focuses on walking to school safely and includes the DVD, walking to school guides, charts and posters for school notice boards. This pack can be used by primary teachers in the classroom under the Department of Education's safety and protection strand within the Social, Personal and Health Education segment of the primary school curriculum.

I believe that the ‘Safe to School' Campaign and the lessons we learn from it will help to change the experience of Ireland's school children.  I also hope that it will help to change attitudes about road safety in general.  That it why I have given my full support to other measures that will support and enhance the long-term impact of the campaign.

One of these other measures was the 2001 to 2003 pilot scheme ‘Safer Routes to Schools'. With growing evidence that fewer children were walking to school, and a consequent increase in the number of car trips generated around schools, an agency of my Department, the Dublin Transportation Office and Local Authorities piloted this initial series across a representative sample of schools.

This pilot was then followed in 2005, by An Taisce's Green Schools team, who started a scheme under their Green Flag programme, which was funded through the Department of Transport's Traffic Management Grants Scheme.

The two-year An Taisce pilot has involved an initial 15 schools, primary and post-primary, in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA), in the 2005-2006 school year and a further 14 schools in the 2006-2007 school year.

I would like to endorse the An Taisce programme objectives, which are to reduce the numbers of school-travel related trips, to prioritise the child, not the vehicle, to generate a modal shift away from the car (particularly an attitudinal shift), and to improve pupil fitness and health.

Promoting sustainable transport modes such as walking, cycling, car-pooling or public transport, also improves children's safety, health and fitness. The journey to school is an ideal way for children to take part in regular physical activity, to interact with their peers, and to develop the road sense children need as pedestrians and cyclists.

The practical outcomes of both of these pilot schemes have included curriculum-based on-road cycle training, and recommended measures to improve the safety of school-front environments. The programme includes a significant number of infrastructure measures (primarily pedestrian crossings, parking restrictions and cycle facilities).  Similar initiatives to reduce the use of the private car on the school run have shown a reduction of car traffic of 8-15%. 

However, one key finding of the An Taisce pilot programme has been that a decrease in car-use occurred only in those cases where the school management, parents and community co-operated in devising and implementing a school travel plan.  The provision of infrastructure measures alone, without an accompanying buy-in by the people involved, did not have the same positive impact.  That is where we come to the new ‘Safe to School with the Maceys' Campaign, which is an attractive, interactive, fun way of learning about road safety.

The roll-out of the ‘Safe to School with the Maceys' Campaign has something to appeal to everyone.  For school children it provides a simple straightforward and fun guide to Walking to School Safely and the Safe Cross Code.  The poster competitions give you an opportunity to be a part of the road safety campaign as well as winning prizes for your class, your teacher and your school. 

Later on, the School Warden of the Year Award gives you an opportunity to show that you appreciate the work that your school warden does to help you cross the road safely. 

The website for the ‘Safe to School with the Maceys' Campaign provides a range of materials and information that I am sure will be interesting and informative for everyone, including the media.

I would ask everyone involved in education to support children with the Mace/Road Safety Authority ‘Safe to School with the Maceys' Campaign. Ultimately, the safety of our nation's children is the future for us all.  I would also encourage all the children here today to encourage your parents, minders, older brothers and sisters to always wear a seat belt while driving a car, to not use a mobile phone while driving and to obey traffic lights and signals. By doing this you too are helping to make our roads safer. 

In conclusion, I want to say: Remember, no matter how you travel, travel safely.

Thank you all very much.

 

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