SaveLIFE   Foundation   in   collaboration   with Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI) today announced findings from its new study titled ‘National Study on Safe Commute to School’. The study reviews the existing status of school transport together with bringing out the challenges and areas of improvement.

The  study  conducted  after  the  outbreak  of  the  COVID-19  pandemic,  analyses responses from 11,845 respondents, including 5,711 children (of classes 6-12) and 6,134 parents (with children in classes 1-12) across 14 cities in India with the intent of gathering insights across age-groups and geographies to inform how we can improve the road safety of children while they commute to school.   The cities  surveyed  include  Ahmedabad,  Bengaluru,  Bhopal,  Chennai,  Delhi,  Jaipur, Jamshedpur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Pune, and Vijayawada.

“Safety  is  a  seminal  part  of  the  Mercedes-Benz’s  philosophy.  At  MBRDI,  our endeavour is to create awareness in making the roads safer for everyone in our community. With our global initiative MobileKids, which has been running for four years  now  here  in  India,  shows  our  commitment  to  enhance  road  safety  for children   and   thus   provide   valuable   educational   work,”   said   Manu   Saale, Managing  Director  and  CEO,  MBRDI.  “The  findings  from  this  study  show unequivocally the raising need for road safety in the country. We hope that this study will help all stakeholders further extend our vision of zero casualties to all modes of road transport,” he added.

As  per  this  study,  47%  of  the  surveyed  respondents  using  school  transport admitted to their school vehicles not being equipped with seat belts. Additionally, 34% of the respondents using two-wheelers surveyed had not ensured their child/ they were wearing a helmet while commuting via two-wheelers. It also emerged that a worrying 30% of children witnessed a crash during their commute to school, while 6% of them were themselves involved in a road crash or a near-miss situation during their commute to and from school. This finding is significant given over 30 children lose their lives on India’s roads every day.

Additionally, more than half of the parents surveyed stated that school authorities took no action on the safety concerns reported to the school authorities. These issues included overcrowding in school vehicles, congestion near the school, and over-speeding by drivers in the school zone.

The study also highlighted gaps in the safety standards of school zones too. 47% of  the  surveyed  respondents  whose child / who  cycled  to  school  reported  no cycling paths en route or even around the school. 30% of those whose child/who walked to school reported missing footpaths around the school zone. It has been observed that adherence to guidelines among private transport users is lower than school-provided  transport.  The  study  has  proposed  some  programs  to  build awareness among parents to equip them to ensure that schools adhere to safety norms.

SaveLIFE Foundation Founder & CEO, Piyush Tewari, said, “As of date, over 25 states and Union Territories have announced the reopening of schools. While there is a vaccine  for  COVID,  the  vaccine  for  child  deaths  on  our  roads  is  really  our collective  action.  Our  findings  through  this  report  have  once  again  emphasised that the right to a safe commute to school is as important as the right to education itself.  A comprehensive national and state school  transport  safety  policy  can ensure that.”