Austrian online map helps parents to plan safe school routes

It marks the street spots that have recorded the highest number of incidents

One week before the start of the school year in Austria (9 September), the Austrian Transport Club (VCÖ) has made available an online map that identifies all the street spots that have recorded a high number of traffic incidents. The digital tool's purpose is to allow parents to plan safer walking routes to school for their children.

VCÖ is a non-governmental association that defends the public interest in the field of transportation issues. It justifies the release of the online map with the idea that it can only help decrease the number of incidents involving pedestrians (and particularly children), but it can also help boost the overall literacy and awareness of school kids when it comes to being on the street and following traffic rules.

The online map gives parents and kids the

opportunity to practice and memorize the route

and the critical places where higher vigilance needs to be exercised before the start of the school year.

Parents can zoom into the municipality where they reside and find out which areas have been marked as problematic together with a brief description of what kind of incidents have been recorded and the recommended steps to take to pay better attention when crossing the road.

Dangerous areas such as unsafe road crossings, places where there are no sidewalks, speeding is the order of the day or where visibility is obstructed have all been entered into the online map.

The compiling of the online map involved the collection of traffic incident data, and the higher aim was to have municipal authorities look into improving the problematic road areas.

“We collect the contributions and then forward them to the relevant municipality and city so that they can see what can be done to improve the situation,” said Christian Gratzer from the VCÖ, quoted by ORF.