‘Click here’ for a safer route to school in Austria

Parents in Austria can use a specially-devised online map to help their children avoid traffic accident ‘hot spots’ when travelling to and from school. 

Almost a quarter of the 400 accidents which occurred on the school run last year were on pedestrian crossings, says the Austrian Transport Club (VCÖ), a non-government traffic management organisation.

Keen to emphasise decades-long laws which make it clear that children should always have priority in crossing the road, the VCÖ is calling on parents and guardians to report problem areas so that the map can remain fully up-to-date.

“If the driver of a vehicle can see that children are crossing or want to cross the road individually or in groups, supervised or unsupervised, (he) must allow them to cross the road unhindered and safely and must stop,” – so says this important regulation set out in Austrian law.

But this rule, says the VCÖ, is ‘often disregarded’ by motorists whose driving behaviour has become, in many cases, unacceptable. Katharina Jaschinsky of the VCÖ, said: “We need a culture of consideration between road users and more awareness of the mandatory protection of the youngest.”

‘We need a culture of consideration’

This new map enables parents and children to learn, practice and memorise safe routes to school, and those critical locations where higher vigilance is needed.

Users can zoom into their own cities and towns to see which areas have been marked as problematic, along with description of what incidents have been recorded, and recommendations for being more safe when crossing there.

Places where there are no pavements or where motorists have been found to regularly drive too fast are all included on the online map.

Founded in 1998, the VCÖ works with both national and European partners on various issues related to mobility and transport, with the aim of establishing an ‘ecologically compatible, economically efficient and socially equitable transport system’.

Working with national and European partners on all issues related to mobility and transport, the VCÖ, founded in 1998, describes its central aim as establishing ‘an intact environment as a livelihood for future generations’.

Click here for more information on the work of VCÖ, including the new online map tool.