Walking Routes to School

Risk Assessments

There is often a need, when parents of school children feel that the route they use to take their children to school is hazardous, to have an independent route risk assessment carried out.

The LARSOA Guidelines for the risk assessment of school walking routes are thorough and detailed, and provide an objective procedure for examining a route and determining its "availability" for children.

Our experience

Having undertaken numerous risk assessments of this type in Leicestershire, Surrey, Cambridgeshire and Essex, TMS is well experienced in the field of assisting Local Authorities and private individuals in assessing not only whether safety issues exist for children walking to school, but also what practical engineering or traffic measures can be taken to improve safety.

Risk Assessments are designed to deal with issues such as:

• accidents that have occurred involving pedestrians including possible alternative "off road" routes
• volume, speed and type of traffic
• visibility, for example sharp bends with a high hedgerow or bank, or overhanging trees or branches that might obscure fields of vision
• the width of any roads travelled along and the existence of footpaths and street lighting