Renowned social worker and Assistant Secretary of 'Shri Ramakrishna Seva Sangh' Tushar Kanti Sheet praised the joint initiative taken by Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) and Indian Road Congress (IRC) to protect school children from road accidents.

Sheet said that the model prepared by CRRI and IRC to make schools safe zones by developing traffic management infrastructure around schools is a welcome step. If this scheme is successful, it will be possible to protect lives and property of school children to a large extent with different types of zebra crossings, maximum speed limit along with clearly visible indicator boards will be installed around schools located on main roads.

As per the instructions of IRC, a central government body, the signs will be issued in different languages for all the states of the country. Several guidelines have been issued by IRC for the safety of school children. According to this, zebra crossings within the school zone will be marked in white and red and will be more detailed than the normal crossings, so that drivers can get information about the safe zone from a distance. It will also be made mandatory to write the word 'School' in big letters on the road surface.

For this NHAI, PWD, Municipal Corporation and other road ownership agencies have to build breakers along with zebra crossings on the roads and especially in the school area. The school management will have to ensure proper exit from the school premises to the roads. Regular checks related to the condition of the school bus as well as the fitness of the driver will also have to be ensured. For the school zone, the maximum speed limit has been set at 25 km per hour on the main roads and 20 km per hour on the internal roads.