Safety scout

Maori Hill School pupil James Bennett (8) gets into the spirit of safer streets with Dunedin City Council school travel plan co-ordinator Kerri MacLennan, who recently dressed as active travel mascot "Scout" to give away free coffee vouchers to parents who opted not to drive to the school gates to drop off children.

In consultation with the school, three drop-off points on Monro St, Grater St and Highgate had been devised, which improved safety by reducing the number of cars at the school entrance, Mrs MacLennan said.

Pupils had been positive about the programme and ran quizzes with prizes to encourage families to use the safe drop-off points, plus the school had a best-dressed competition last week, shesaid.

She could assist any school to improve safety at the school gate, Mrs MacLennan said.

Some of the other initiatives she had helped with included planning walking school buses, slow speed campaigns and creating walking time zones so pupils could walk part of the way to school.