The Road to School Should Never Be a Child's Greatest Risk

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A school day should begin with a child thinking about friends, teachers and what might be learned. It should not begin with a family calculating the danger ...

A school day should begin with a child thinking about friends, teachers and what might be learned. It should not begin with a family calculating the danger of crossing a busy road.

In Cambodia, where motorbikes are central to everyday travel, the journey to school can expose children to risks that deserve far more attention than they receive. Safety begins before a student reaches the classroom.

UNICEF Cambodia's child road-safety campaign describes road crashes as a leading cause of death among children and adolescents, emphasizing the danger faced by young people in a transport system where motorbikes are common.

Its policy brief estimates that nearly 300 young lives are lost in crashes annually, while thousands more are injured. These figures should not be allowed to become background noise. Each represents the interruption of a family's future.

Road safety is sometimes framed as a matter of individual caution. Caution matters, and so do helmets, speed limits, and attentive driving.

But a child cannot personally redesign a dangerous junction or create a protected path to school. Families should not be told that responsibility rests entirely with them when unsafe infrastructure and inconsistent enforcement shape the choices available.

The area immediately around a school is a sensible place to begin. UNICEF calls for safer school zones, including reduced speeds, clear pedestrian crossings, traffic calming, and trained safety monitors.

These measures are specific enough to evaluate. Is the crossing visible? Are drivers slowing down while students arrive and leave? Is the route safe for a small child, or only for a confident adult who knows how to navigate the traffic?

Parents and teachers have knowledge that formal assessments can miss. They know where children hesitate before crossing, where a parked vehicle hides the view, and where the road becomes crowded at dismissal.

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