Statement on the school transport guide coming into effect on 1 August 2021

Statement from the Rusutjärvi School Parents’ Association: As representatives of the
parents of Rusutjärvi School, we wish to express our deep concern about the changes to our children’s school transport that will come into effect with the new school transport guide on 1 August 2021. We oppose these changes and demand that they be reconsidered route by route.

With reference to the appendix on page 11 of the school transport guide prepared by the Education and Training Committee on 22 April 2014, which lists roads classified as dangerous, the sentence ends with ‘If a light traffic lane, pedestrian crossing or underpass is completed on a road section classified as dangerous, the road section will be removed from the list of dangerous roads’. None of these have been completed on the road sections that are now being reclassified from dangerous to non-dangerous. How is it possible that the Koululiitu programme, which is now used to determine danger, disagrees with the previous assessment made by the municipality/police? Teemu Kinnunen, project manager at Ramboll Finland Oy, which developed the Koululiitu programme, commented to YLE in 2012 that Koululiitu is only one assessment method among others. He emphasised that decisions on granting school transport should not be made solely on the basis of the programme’s assessments.

The Basic Education Act stipulates that ‘Pupils receiving basic education are entitled to free transport when, taking into account the pupil’s age and other circumstances, the journey is too difficult, burdensome or dangerous for the pupil’. As stated above, there have been no improvements to the road conditions on the routes taken by pupils at our school, so we demand that the changes be revoked on these grounds.

Attached are statements on the matter from our children’s parents, the Rusutjärvi Association and villagers.

We invite you, municipal decision-makers and officials, to join us on safety walks around the village to see the situation through the eyes of both adults and children.

Statement by Rusutjärvi-seura ry: One of
the aims of Rusutjärvi-seura ry is to promote and maintain the well-being of the village residents. All villagers, from babies to the elderly, are important to the association.

We are extremely concerned about the possible removal of school transport for many families in our village area due to the assessment of the danger of school routes based on the Koululiitu system in the municipality of Tuusula. In 2017, the Rusutjärvi Association drew up a village plan which already noted that the pedestrian and cycle paths were inadequate, the roadsides were dangerous for both pedestrians and cyclists, speeds were too high, road lighting was inadequate and roads were in poor condition. No improvements have been made to the above-mentioned issues in the past four years. According to the Koululiitu system assessment, almost all roads in our village are classified as “dangerous for everyone”.
These roads include, for example, the Hämeentie (road no. 45) crossing and Nummitie, which is partially unlit.     

We would like municipal decision-makers to familiarise themselves with the roads in Rusutjärvi and reassess the situation based on the actual condition and danger of the roads. Every child should have the right to a safe journey to school.

Attached is a petition to keep school transport in Rusutjärvi. 

This content has been translated using AI

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