A comprehensive plan is underway to improve the road safety features surrounding 380 schools in different parts of the country, the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) said yesterday.
Ashghal is extending top priority to the School Zone Safety programme in line with the goals and objectives of the National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS 2013 – 2022), initiated under the patronage of HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani.
The NRSS aims to ease traffic congestion in these areas, separate vehicles from pedestrians and improve unpaved roads to achieve higher safety levels.
As part of the plan, which started in 2013, Ashghal has already completed roads surrounding 63 schools in various areas, in addition to completing temporary enhancements around 33 schools until the permanent enhancements are implemented.
Currently, works are going on to temporarily or permanently enhance roads surrounding 21 schools and design work is in progress for roads surrounding another 180 schools, before the enhancement works start.
As part of the ongoing plans, priority is being accorded to 200 school zones (including 348 schools) in co-ordination with the Ministry of Interior and the National Road Safety Committee. This is being done after identifying the schools in urgent need of safety measures.
Priority is being given to these schools based on a study conducted by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to choose the school zones in urgent need of development.
Preparations are going on to enable enhancement works around 22 other schools in addition to completing design work for 158 schools, which brings the plan to more than 70% completion (264 schools out of 380). The works on the rest of the schools are under design or awaiting final approvals.
The School Zone Safety Programme aims to ensure the safety of students and parents upon their arrival or departure from schools and ease traffic congestion in the immediate surroundings of schools. The programme has found such situations are occurring due to the lack of parking spots, sidewalks and footpaths.
The completion of the integrated development works for every school needs about three months, preceded by several stages of studying and evaluating safety elements. This includes determination of the entrances and exits of the roads leading to the school in order to place the signboards within walking distance of the institution.
This is in addition to setting standards, technical foundations, and general requirements for the establishment of parking lots and various stopping points to facilitate the passenger drop off and pick up and determine the pedestrian crossing sites.
The designs, which will develop traffic safety standards in school zones, are set based on the results of the study and adjusted according to the recommendations of the school administration.
The implementation is done to establish safe roads in the school zones, providing car parks, building medians and small roundabouts in order to manage traffic flow in those areas. These works include installing sufficient number of signboards and road markings near schools. Moreover, the speed limit in the school zones will be set as 30 km/h and speed breakers will be installed in order to reduce speed.
In order to ensure better pedestrians safety, the roads maintenance team creates safe footpaths for people, particularly special needs people.