On July 02, the RADAR project completed the final webinar on Star Rating for Schools.

The keynote speakers on the webinar were Rafaela MACHADO, RS4S Global coordinator, iRAP and Julio URZÚA, Regional Director, the Americas, iRAP.

“Each day 500 children are killed in preventable traffic crashes around the world. Sometimes they are killed just yards from the school entrance. Each traffic death and injury violates a child’s right to life and education. The United Nations has included road safety in its Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.6. SR4S is key to meeting these global targets for child and adolescent pedestrians,” explained Rafaela Machado.

This is why Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) Global App has been developed. Star Rating for School is the first evidence-based tool for measuring, managing, and communicating the risk children are exposed to on a journey to school. It supports quick interventions that save lives and prevent serious injuries from day one.

Rafaela is the Star Rating for Schools Global Coordinator at iRAP. She is responsible for the global rollout and support of the programme, ensuring coordination with partners worldwide. Rafaela has been working on road safety for 8 years through road infrastructure assessments and partnerships to ensure the implementation of evidence-based solutions for safer roads. Rafaela holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and a master’s degree in Transportation Systems from the same University.

Between 2002 and 2006, Julio Urzúa was the Executive Secretary of the Chilean National Commission for Road Safety (CONASET). CONASET is a national commission responsible for inter-ministerial coordination and development of public policies for road safety in Chile. Between 2006 and 2009 Julio was Executive Secretary of the Latin American and Caribbean Transitional Commission for Road Safety. Since 2009 Julio has been the Director of Latin America and the Caribbean for the International Road Assessment Programme, a British registered charity dedicated to saving lives through safer roads.

RADAR project impacts a fundamental human right – safety, and in particular road safety. It enforces citizens’ engagement that contributes to improving road safety and raises awareness about the risk that road infrastructure is hiding on streets around the schools. The project pilots assessment of the road safety around schools with the active engagement of civil society – NGOs, pupils, their parents, and schoolteachers. 

In many countries of the Danube area, the infrastructure safety provisions on the streets around schools are nonexistent or of poor quality.  The schools are often situated on or near busy roads and routes to schools are unsafe. In close cooperation through workshops and discussions with students/pupils, parents, and schoolteachers, the RADAR project seeks to find the most used routes to and from schools and assess their safety for children. 

Using the international Road Assessment Methodology, the project identifies potentially dangerous sites or sections of roads and proposes to schools’ representatives' concept plans that help to reduce the risks for pupils while going to and from school.

The project tackles all elements of safe routes to schools, having in mind children’s, parents’ and teachers’ role, infrastructure alignment, and surrounding traffic. It will encourage participation among the citizens to assess road safety around schools and focus on their own journey to the school. The project pilot involves cooperation with relevant citizens groups to plan, propose, and raise awareness of effective solutions.

“We are going to strive to drive and stimulate authorities by showcasing our pilots and road safety strategy that will make authorities understand and raise awareness that even if the roads are well and they have good data or record on safety around school and vulnerable road users, that does not mean there is no room for improvement,” Olivera Rozi, Project Director and Lead Partner of RADAR project, EIRA-EuroRAP.