SAFE SCHOOL TRIPS

The initiative "Safe School trips " was born from the collaboration between the State Police and the Ministry of Education, University and Research, which spreads already successfully tested projects throughout the national Italian territory, aiming at making school transport as safe as possible.

Also this year, due to the positive results achieved by the joint initiative, started in 2016, to ensure controls on the buses used for trips, the activity continues, through the planning of specific preventive services aimed at increasing the safety levels of the trips. The specific services are added to the routine controls that the Traffic Police carry out on the means of transport dedicated to educational visits during normal road surveillance activities, or by requests forwarded by the schools themselves.

The intervention of the Traffic Police bodies is requested through the emergency numbers.

The State Police and the MIUR provided useful information for the safe organization of the trips, summarized in a handbook prepared by the Traffic Police. Basic information on the choice and regularity of transport companies, on the driver's suitability and on the general conditions of the vehicles, which, far from attributing police tasks to school managers, intend to support them in their institutional responsibilities. Attention is paid to the general rules on public transport concerning rental with a bus driver, with particular reference to the driver's conduct and the suitability of the vehicle.

The handbook, created by the Traffic Police, highlights the responsibilities of the driver who must maintain, for the duration of the trip, a behavior respectful of the traffic code and that does not expose the passengers to risks. The responsibility of the conduct is only of the driver himself and the verification of the suitability of the driver falls on the transport company for which he works. The handbook contains a precise summary of the obligations provided for by the rules of conduct, and invites the teachers to report to the police bodies, exercising thus civic sense, any incorrect behavior of the driver of which they should have direct testimony (such as speaking on a cell phone, listening to music with earphones, drinking alcohol, etc.).

A communication form, that has been prepared and shared with schools, allows school administrators to communicate to the Traffic Police Section of the provincial capital of the place where the trip starts, a few days before, for any random check. In the event of a clear situation that could compromise the safety of those being transported, the intervention of the Traffic Police bodies is requested through the emergency numbers.