A joint collaboration between Discovery Insure and Childsafe, focused on improving the capabilities of scholar transport service providers, has delivered positive results over the five years since initiation.

The Safe Travel to School Programme, launched in 2014, has seen remarkable growth, and has made the daily journey to and from school safer for school-going children.

Speaking during a panel discussion at Uber’s Tech for Safety Summit last month, Childsafe South Africa executive director Yolanda Baker said road accidents were one of the biggest causes of fatalities of children in South Africa.

Of the 7 000 children admitted to the Red Cross Children’s Hospital Trauma Unit every year, half are the result of road traffic accidents.

While more than half of the 12-million schoolgoers in South Africa walk to school, five-million are transported in vehicles along high-risk routes, many in nonroadworthy vehicles and by drivers who often drive recklessly.

According to Childsafe research, available on its website, 1 300 children were killed on South African roads in 2017, and, in Cape Town alone, there were at least 50 child pedestrian fatalities last year.

The research also shows that 58% of injuries and fatalities happen between 14:00 and 19:00 on weekdays.

Discovery’s programme brochure shows, overall, that, globally, 1.3-million people are killed in road accidents, which are the leading cause of death for young people worldwide, particularly in developing countries.

In addition, 50-million people worldwide are injured or disabled as a result of road accidents.

Citing the International Transport Forum’s 2013 ‘Road Safety Annual Report’ statistics, Discovery states that South Africa has one of the highest road accident rates worldwide.

“South Africa ranked worst out of 36 countries when it came to the number of road fatalities. Statistics in the report show that, in 2011, South Africa had a rate of 27.6 deaths per 100 000 people,” Discovery outlines on its website.

This high road accident rate costs the economy over R300-billion each year.

In an effort to curb preventable accidents, the partnership extends Discovery’s Vitalitydrive programme to the Safe Travel to School project, with the installation of tracking devices in scholar vehicles to monitor driver behaviour and analyse areas of potential improvement.

Vitalitydrive leverages behavioural economics using an installed DQ Track device to promote good driving behaviour, using measurements of speed and acceleration, cornering, braking, driving distances and time of day, says Discovery Insure telematics head Ilan Ossin.

The programme, which currently tracks over 200 000 vehicles, incentivises good driving, with R10-million in fuel paid out each year, as well as a reward of 180 000 smoothies and coffees, besides others.

The programme has lowered the chances of being involved in an accident, and the severity of any accident, by 60% to 70%, he says.

“Technology and telematics can drive key innovations to keep our roads safer,” he says.

It is a synergy between technology and incentivisation to modify human behaviour.

Through a series of interventions, the Safe Travel to School Programme aims to develop safer, reliable and more road-safety-aware drivers for children in transit.

The programme inspects the roadworthiness of the learner transport vehicles; monitors driver behaviour through telematics; provides feedback and incentives to improve driving behaviour; tests drivers’ eyesight and provides glasses where necessary; and trains drivers in first aid and defensive driving.

“We currently monitor 800 drivers transporting 16 000 children a day,” says Baker, highlighting that, in the five years since initiation, no crashes or fatalities have been reported from monitored drivers.

“The technology used has had a significant impact,” she says.

The installation of a monitoring device also means the drivers are eligible for bonuses, prizes and incentives every quarter, and the best driver of the year wins a new 16-seater minibus.

The programme started with just 17 scholar transport drivers, increasing to 78 drivers in 2015, and, by the end of 2017, there were over 600 monitored scholar transporters across Cape Town.

The DQ Track System tracks and measures driving behaviour, and, each month, the scholar transporters receive monthly feedback on their driving behaviour, as well as recommendations on how they can become better drivers and transport school-going children safely to and from school every day.