Tuesday 11 December: LONDON — Star Rating for Schools, the first-ever evidence-based tool for measuring, managing and communicating the level of risk children are exposed to on school journeys, has won a prestigious Prince Michael International Road Safety Award.

Developed and tested with sponsorship from FedEx Corp. and the FIA Foundation, the easy-to-use, low-cost app and global reporting application is made safer by iRAP’s Pedestrian Star Rating. The Star Rating for Schools programme will be rolled out worldwide through a Lead Partner network of NGOs who have helped shape the product and will ultimately deliver success and safer journeys to schools around the globe.

In making their recommendation for an award the judges thought this to be a most innovative and valuable development of iRAP which can be used so successfully at a community level, with such huge potential to reduce risk and save lives of children and pedestrians.

“We are thrilled to accept this award.  In its global pilot, Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) has already been used to assess the safety of journeys to more than 500 schools across five continents,” said James Bradford, global product director for iRAP.  “The tool assesses the risk to pedestrians at spot locations, informing interventions and investment which save lives and serious injuries from day one.  It has already informed road upgrades now saving lives in Zambia, Bogota and South Africa and importantly, will enable the tracking of global success,” he said.

“Tragically, more than 3,000 children are killed or seriously injured on the world’s roads daily, often on their journey to school.  With more than 180,000 trucks connecting markets around the world, road safety is of the utmost importance to us, so we are pleased to support this initiative,” said Matthew Thornton III, executive vice president and chief operating officer, FedEx Freight.  “The tool stands to make a significant global impact and we’re already seeing signs of that.  Importantly, it arms local communities—schools, road safety advocates and local NGOs—with a globally-recognized assessment tool to inform their safety efforts and advocacy to those who manage and fund upgrades in their streets.”

The SR4S Programme will be launched in April in Chania, Greece, with the support of twelve Lead Partners including AIP Foundation, Amend, EASST, Federation Internationale de L’Automobile (FIA), Gonzalo Rodriguez Foundation, Child Health Initiative, Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety, Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP), International Road Federation (IRF), Safe Kids Worldwide, Youth for Road Safety (YOURS) and World Resources Institute (WRI).

The Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards recognise outstanding achievement and innovation. The award was presented by HRH Prince Michael of Kent at a ceremony which took place at The Savoy, London on Tuesday 11 December 2018.

For all Prince Michael International Road Safety Award Winners 2018 click here

To view the official photos from the day click here

– Ends –

Media contacts:

iRAP:     James Bradford, Global Product Director (Based in UK)
Mob: +44 7823 322 931, james.bradford@irap.org

Fedex: Lynnette Hay, Senior External Communication Specialist (Based in UK)
Mob: +44 7900 709 788, lynnette.holland@fedex.com