With the new school term about to start, families across Wales are being encouraged to consider the different transport options available for pupils returning to the classrooms from next week.
Pupils and students intending to travel to and from schools or colleges on scheduled public transport services are also being encouraged to think of others and act responsibly when travelling. Meanwhile, other public transport users are being urged to try to avoid non-essential journeys around the start and end of the school day in order to ensure sufficient capacity for the young travellers.
Pupils in Wales will begin returning at the start of the new term on Tuesday 2 September, with a two-week period for schools to finalise plans. The full return of pupils will come on Monday 14 September.
We were delighted to receive a photograph of Eira Wolksi holding her cheque for winning the recent Road Safety Wales Poster Competition.
Eira's 'Drive Safe' poster was one of five winning entries and despite being only 7 years old, the judges were really impressed with her artwork encouraging drivers to drive safely and not to exceed 20mph speed limits.
Road Safety Wales partners have collaborated to produce a child pedestrian training video to share with school contacts and for inclusion on local authority websites and social media channels, for parents to use during the school holidays and beyond.
The resource has been created during lockdown at no real cost to the Road Safety Wales partnership, thanks to the input of Road Safety Officers and their much appreciated family volunteers. Special thanks go to Angharad Barrett of Blaenau Gwent CBC and Charlie Gordon of Swansea Council for their help in making this lockdown project possible.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, many children in Wales benefitted from pedestrian training or Kerbcraft at school, thanks to road safety grant funding from the Welsh Government. Social distancing requirements made practical training of this nature at school impossible; this package has been developed to assist in equipping children with pedestrian skills for life.
Human error is the leading cause in more than 90% of road traffic collisions. These collisions are preventable and usually the consequence of unsafe practices.
In its latest blog, Wales By Bike is reminding motorcyclists that a good standard of riding requires a good attitude and respect of personal and other road users’ safety. The likelihood of a collision increases when poor attitude, speed and risk-taking are present.
Selfish, aggressive and illegal riding leads to significantly greater risk for motorcyclists and others sharing the road space; such behaviour is a matter of choice and motorcyclists displaying a flagrant disregard for the law and safety can expect to be prosecuted.
Neris from the Road Safety Section in Ceredigion County Council and PCSO Eleri from Dyfed Powys Police have put together a short training video aimed at helping young children remain safe when out walking and looking for safe places to cross the road.
The video provides information on what to look out for on a vehicle and how to know if a vehicle is about to move. From engine noise to reverse lights, it is important that children can comprehend what these different clues mean in order for them to be able to assess any potential dangers.
The video provides a brief introduction to issues usually covered in Kerbcraft training, which cannot take place at present, due to COVID-19 social distancing regulations.
A Welsh Government review of learner transport has been extended to consider the distances when children aged 4-16 become eligible to receive free travel to school.
The review initially focused on Post 16 Learner Travel, but its scope has now been extended in light of the issues raised over past months.
As well as the 4-16 year old age group being included in the review, it will also consider the current mileage threshold.
Cardiff, recently voted the UK's best cycling city, is installing new pop-up cycleways.
Installation is planned by the autumn to provide safer, mostly segregated routes to enable people to travel by bike on some of Cardiff's busiest roads.
The two routes, the ‘Cross City ‘and ‘Bay Loop' cycleways, are being brought forward as part of the Council's ongoing COVID-19 recovery plans and are in line with the cycling vision set out in the Council's Transport White Paper.
We are delighted to announced the winners of the recent Road Safety Wales Poster Competition! Young people aged up to 18 were invited to design a poster that will promote the safe use of active travel, the benefits of 20 mph speed limits on communities or to encourage safer driver behaviour across Wales.
Each poster was judged on originality, creativity, impact and the message being portrayed. The standard of entries was incredibly high and the judges found it very difficult to decide on just 5 winners. We can now reveal that the winners are:
Aathira Shasheer
Christian Davies
Eira Wolski
Jake Lloyd-Williams
Katie Jones
Winning entries will receive a cheque for £50 from Road Safety Wales. Thank you to everyone that entered and congratulations to our winners!
A disqualified driver who tested positive for drugs and who was also wanted, was one of the many arrests made by the North Wales Roads Policing Unit recently.
Inspector Nicky Collins of the Roads Policing Unit said, “Driving whilst under the influence of drugs – whether prescribed medication or illegal substances is just as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol. Not only is it a criminal offence but it is also completely unacceptable which puts lives at risk.
“Drugs can affect your mind and body in a variety of ways that mean you aren't able to drive safely. Not only that, the effects can last for hours or even days. Driving while under the influence of drugs can lead to slower reaction times, poor concentration, confusion, fatigue, being over confident which means you take unnecessary risks and erratic behaviour.
The Department for Transport has opened a consultation seeking views on proposed changes to The Highway Code to improve safety for vulnerable road users, particularly the groups of:
cyclists
pedestrians
horse riders
The main proposals are to introduce a hierarchy of road users, to clarify pedestrian and cyclist priority and to establish safer overtaking. This is to ensure that those road users who can do the greatest harm, have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger or threat they may pose to others.
It clarifys existing rules on pedestrian priority on pavements, to advise that drivers and riders should give way to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross the road.
It provides guidance on cyclist priority at junctions, to advise drivers to give priority to cyclists at junctions when travelling straight ahead.
Guidance on safe passing distances and speeds when overtaking cyclists and horse riders is also included
The consultation, which can be accessed here, will remain open until midnight on 27th October 2020.
With the new school term about to start, families across Wales are being encouraged to consider the different transport options available for pupils returning to the classrooms from next week.
We were delighted to receive a photograph of Eira Wolksi holding her cheque for winning the recent Road Safety Wales Poster Competition.
Road Safety Wales partners have collaborated to produce a child pedestrian training video to share with school contacts and for inclusion on local authority websites and social media channels, for parents to use during the school holidays and beyond.
Human error is the leading cause in more than 90% of road traffic collisions. These collisions are preventable and usually the consequence of unsafe practices. 
A Welsh Government review of learner transport has been extended to consider the distances when children aged 4-16 become eligible to receive free travel to school.
Cardiff, recently voted the UK's best cycling city, is installing new pop-up cycleways.
We are delighted to announced the winners of the recent Road Safety Wales Poster Competition! Young people aged up to 18 were invited to design a poster that will promote the safe use of active travel, the benefits of 20 mph speed limits on communities or to encourage safer driver behaviour 
A disqualified driver who tested positive for drugs and who was also wanted, was one of the many arrests made by the North Wales Roads Policing Unit recently.
The Department for Transport has opened a consultation seeking views on proposed changes to The Highway Code to improve safety for vulnerable road users, particularly the groups of: