Commuting to school a risky path for kids

Study points to poor road planning, limited enforcement and poor traffic behaviour across 14 cities

Numbering over 500 million according to the Census 2011, children below 18 years of age face a high degree of risk while commuting to and from school due to poor road planning, limited enforcement and poor traffic behaviour across 14 Indian cities, according to a study.

The pandemic had added another layer of danger to these existing factors for school students and there was a need for safety policies for students at both the national and State level, the report observed.

The study, titled ‘National Study on Safe Commute to School’, and carried out by the SaveLIFE Foundation and Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI) to highlight gaps in road safety for children, posited that although millions of students travel to school everyday, many schools do not provide the option of school-affiliated transport.