West Berkshire Council has teamed up with Agilysis to produce an online School Streets educational tool – and is encouraging road safety professionals to ‘be brave and take the test’.
The development of the programme is part of efforts to maintain the safety and integrity of the council’s School Streets initiatives.
It follows feedback from a local resident, who raised the idea of using money generated by fixed penalty notices to provide better driver education and awareness.
West Berkshire Council says so much great work has been done around School Streets – and that it has absorbed much information ‘on what worked and what didn’t’ during their introduction.
It is encouraging road safety professionals to give the resource a try amid belief the concept could be easily adapted to support other moving traffic offences.
In July 2023, West Berkshire Council was granted Part 6 powers to use ANPR cameras to enforce School Street restrictions.
The new course is available for those who have been issued a fixed penalty notice as a result of a School Street offence. The learning is incentivised by providing a substantial discount to the fixed penalty notice, if successfully completed.
The course is open to use by the public at any time, in the hope that it will provide a means of education so that they can avoid committing another offence.
In the course, users are entered into a virtual town which is filled with eight different characters that they must interact and speak with to progress.
Each character adds a new perspective and outlines a benefit from School Streets schemes.
The course takes around 30 minutes to complete – and there is a short eight question quiz at the end.
Users need to score 6/8 in order to pass and be eligible for the discount.
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