The school ride starts before the school gate
Ask a family about their ride to school and they may tell you about one particular spot: the road they wait to cross, the path that ends unexpectedly, or the street that feels too busy to ride with a child.
A safer crossing can make an enormous difference. But children still need to reach it. The journey from home to the school gate passes through neighbourhood streets, intersections and paths that all need to work together.
The ACT Government’s School Safety Program includes projects across Canberra to help students walk and ride. At Maribyrnong Primary School, footpath connections and pedestrian crossings on Alberga Street and Shannon Circuit are in design. At Lyneham High School, the government is designing crossing and path improvements on Murdoch and Goodwin streets. At Torrens Primary School, a proposed community path would connect Horrocks Street with the children’s crossing on Batchelor Street, while improvements to another crossing on Beasley Street are being investigated.
These projects recognise that a safe school trip needs paths as well as places to cross. They also raise a question for every school neighbourhood: would a child feel comfortable making the whole journey?
The streets around a school matter
Picture a family riding the same route each morning. The new crossing outside school may be clear and convenient. Two streets earlier, though, they may have to navigate a fast turn or ride past parked cars that make it difficult to see approaching traffic. That part of the journey can determine whether they choose to ride at all.
Street speed is part of the picture. Where children, carers, drivers and riders meet, a lower speed gives everyone more time to notice one another and respond. It works best when the street itself supports that speed through features such as raised crossings, clear markings and traffic calming.
That is the thinking behind Pedal Power’s Safer Streets campaign. We are calling for a 12-month trial of targeted 30 km/h zones in busy local precincts, including places around schools. The campaign asks the ACT Government to choose sites using traffic and safety data alongside community experience, design the streets to support the lower speed, and publish the results.
The campaign does not identify Maribyrnong, Lyneham or Torrens schools as confirmed trial sites. They are examples of school journeys where proposed path and crossing work shows why the surrounding streets deserve attention too.
Tell us where the journey becomes difficult
The children and carers who make these trips know the details a project map may miss. Is there a turn that feels uncomfortable? A crossing that does not line up with the route families actually take? A street you avoid even though it would be the most direct way to school?
Those experiences can help make school safety work more useful and help identify where a Safer Streets trial could have the greatest impact. Explore the current school projects, then visit Safer Streets to tell your local MLAs which street matters to your community.
A safer trip to school should begin well before the school gate.
