Discovery and Childsafe launch Safe Travel to School

Recently Discovery and Childsafe launcehed a joint initiative, the Safe Travel to School programme, aimed at making travel to and from school safer for all South African children every day. The initiative was launched at Norma Road Primary School in Athlone, Cape Town, and it will be rolled out over five years in 12-month stints, with the pilot taking place in the Western Cape.

The Discovery Insure DQ Track will help improve driving behaviour

The programme is targeted at scholar transporters, who transport children to and from school each day. It aims to help our country reduce the high rate of road crashes involving school children. Scholar transporters’ vehicles will be assessed for several criteria. Those that meet the criteria will qualify to have a Discovery Insure DQ Track system installed, which will measure their driving behaviour. The results will encourage the scholar transporters to improve their driving behaviour and road safety awareness.

Discovery Insure CEO Anton Ossip said, “Safe Travel to School has the ability to make a significant difference to the lives of many South African children. Discovery ventured into this project because we believe that children are the most vulnerable in society. This was an area where we believe we can make a significant difference. The belief is that if we can make people aware of the risks that are inherent in how they drive and incentivise them to improve, we can make a significant difference to them, to society and ultimately keep people safer on the road.” 

Safe Travel to School will help to reduce our country’s high road crash rate

A spokesperson from the National Department of Transport said the department supported Safe Travel to School. In light of South Africa having one of the world’s highest road crash rates, “government is committed to fighting the scourge of road crashes, and improving road safety.”

Professor Sebastian Van As, Childsafe and Chairperson for the Global Road Safety Partnership South Africa is enthusiastic about the programme’s ability to make a significant difference. He said “Safe Travel to School programme will play a critical role in increasing road safety awareness levels, and serve as a call to action to our communities to encourage all road users to be more aware and comply with road rules.”

Watch the video about the programme.