School's in: Keeping children safe around schools
05 February 2025
Every loss of life on our roads is a tragedy. The death of a child is profoundly heartbreaking and adds to the urgency of making roads safer.
The NRMA has today released its ‘School’s In’ report as students return to classrooms for Term One. The report has revealed that the top five NSW speed camera locations alone amassed almost 27,000 fines in the last financial year.
The NRMA is today calling for safety audits of school zones to be conducted, beginning with the school zones amassing the most number of fines:
- Woodville Road, Chester Hill – Southbound 7,813 fines
- Princes Highway, Kogarah – Southbound 5,642 fines
- Victoria Road, Ryde – Eastbound 5,173 fines
- Lane Cove Road, North Ryde – Northbound 4,366 fines
- The Boulevarde, Strathfield – Northbound 3,933 fines
While school zones in NSW have become safer with the
number of children killed or injured steadily declining
over the last 20 years, more can be done to improve
the safety around schools. Road safety audits need to be conducted at each
school in NSW to identify areas of risk that may lead
to crashes.
The NRMA believes that audits must include physical site inspections and not only rely on desktop research. They should also include school representatives and the wider community to enhance local knowledge.
These need to be urgently actioned. Audits that include physical site visits can help identify issues such as more kiss and drop zones, pedestrian fencing, crossings changes to parking signs and other safety improvements.
What is needed
- Conduct road safety audits around each school in NSW and a program of works for delivery. Top earning speed camera locations in school zones should be prioritised.
- Increased support to help families prepare older children for independent travel to school.
- More education reminding parents and carers that school children aged under seven must be correctly restrained in a child car seat.
- Child car seat diversion programs offered to all drivers who receive an initial infringement notice for a child not properly restrained in a car seat.
What our members are saying
The NRMA surveyed over 550 parents and carers of primary school aged children regarding school zone safety issues in NSW and the ACT.
Almost half (46%) were aware of an incident or near miss at or near their child’s school during school hours in the last 12 months. Of these, 41% witnessed the incident.
| Top 5 safety concerns in school zones | Top 5 measures to make school zones safer |
|---|---|
| 1. Speeding through a school zone (56%) | 1. Kiss and drop zones (52%) |
| 2. Lack of parking near schools (50%) | 2. Increased parking (50%) |
| 3. Double parking or stopping illegally to drop off/pick up children (42%) | 3. Alternative school access that’s not on a main road (36%) |
| 4. Children of a young age crossing the road unsupervised (39%) | 4. Road infrastructure changes – pedestrian fencing, speed humps etc. (30%) |
| 5. Low visibility of children in school zones due to traffic congestion (29%) | 5. More school crossing supervisors (29%) |
Keeping kids safe around schools
The numbers of children killed or injured on NSW roads in school travel times has been steadily declining over the last 20 years. In 2024, no child aged 16 years and under was killed in an active school zone (preliminary data as at 20 January 2025).
In the first half of 2024, three children (including two pedestrians) aged 16 years and under were injured in an active school zone, two seriously injured and one minor/other injured. Between 2019 and 2023, two children (both pedestrians) aged 16 and under were killed in an active school zone.
Audits will help
Duty of care doesn’t stop at the bell or at the school gate - this is the NSW Department of Education’s mantra when it comes to student road safety.
Schools often invest a lot of time and resources to help keep their students safe outside the school gates. Teachers can be seen donning high visibility vests to usher children safely on school buses, manning the school’s kiss and drop zones and crowd controlling popular local bus stops.
While school zones are generally safe, more can be done to improve the overall safety around schools, help ensure road rule compliance from motorists and support schools in protecting students.
Road safety audits are needed around each school to identify areas of risk that could lead to crashes and what is needed to mitigate the risks. The NSW Government should prioritise locations where known speeding occurs.
School road safety audits should be made public and identify community infrastructure needs and program them for delivery.
School's in: Keeping children safe around schools
Read more about audits, school zones, solo trips, and child restraints
