Introduction

This report presents an independent evaluation of the Trailblazers project, undertaken by AECOM for North Ayrshire Council and the Ayrshire Roads Alliance.

About Trailblazers

Trailblazers is a road safety and active travel project, funded by Transport Scotland via its Road Safety Framework Fund. The project is designed to promote active travel, and road safety awareness, by providing QR codes at key points on the journey to school which link to a road safety fact, task, or question.

By marking five and ten minute points on the walk to school, the scheme aimed to highlight to parents/carers and pupils how close they lived to school and encourage more families to travel actively on the school journey. These key points were identified using common routes to school. Routes were identified based on existing “suitable routes to school” maps and by the road safety operatives walking and checking the routes. The suitability of lampposts on the route also determined some of the locations, noting that not all lampposts were suitable for the wraps (e.g. some were too thick or folded in the middle).

The use of the Trailblazers branding and ‘Blaze’ the horse was incorporated to create interest in the project, and branded prizes and certificates were offered as incentives and to supplement the QR codes in supporting pupil engagement with the scheme.

The project has been delivered across North, East and South Ayrshire Councils with three schools from each local authority participating in the scheme. Each local authority chose a mix of mainland schools, in both urban and rural locations. In North Ayrshire, the schools were selected based on enthusiasm from the schools and also to cover a mix of urban and rural locations. The South and East Ayrshire schools were selected based on the number of complaints about traffic received from schools in the region, and also targeting schools which would not be suitable as School Streets (i.e. where peak time closures are introduced on roads serving schools).

The trial in North Ayrshire Council (NAC) was implemented for a period of around 7/8 weeks (from the start of the school year on the 21^st August until the October break on the 8^th/9^th October 2023). The trials in South Ayrshire Council (SAC) and East Ayrshire Council (EAC) were implemented for around 18 weeks (from the start of the school year on the 21^st August until the Christmas break on the 22^nd December 2023).

Examples of the materials used as part of the project are shown in Figure 1.

Note that there were some minor differences in the infrastructure between the local authorities. In EAC/SAC the QR codes on the lamppost stickers led to the daily question/task and the QR codes on the lamppost wraps led to the website homepage. In NAC the QR codes on the lamppost wraps led to the daily question/task and there were no lamppost stickers used. This was due to differences in local authority level rules and approvals around placing stickers on lampposts.

Objectives

Based on information provided in the project brief, the following project objectives have been identified for the Trailblazers project:

• To improve knowledge, understanding and awareness of road safety.
• To encourage active travel to and from school.

These objectives apply to all pupils in participating primary schools, but the primary five, six, and seven age groups were identified as the main targets for the project.

The second objective of the project also ultimately aimed to reduce congestion around the schools.

Evaluation Approach

The approach to evaluation for the project followed a specification set out by the client group in the project tender brief. In line with this approach, this evaluation report presents:

• General research to understand the school context before and during the trial period including demographics, road safety / accident data, any other concurrent road safety and active travel initiatives, and Hands Up Survey Scotland data.
• Findings from pupil focus groups and teacher interviews undertaken before and during the trial period to understand travel to school patterns and views on the scheme.
• Findings from pupil and parent/carer surveys to understand travel to school and views on the scheme.
• Feedback from discussions with road safety operatives involved in developing and launching the trials to understand how the scheme was implemented and any lessons learnt.
• Analysis of QR code and website usage data.
• Monitoring of school social media.

Evaluation Approach Overview

The text below sets out an overview of the approach to the evaluation including key dates:

Baseline (May/June 2023)

• School Visit 1 - All schools visited
• Pupil Survey 1 - All schools surveyed
• Parent Survey 1 - All schools surveyed
• Discussion with Road Safety Operatives

During/After Implementation (October 2023)

• School Visit 2 - All schools excluding Coylton and Mauchline were visited
• Pupils Survey 2 - All schools were surveyed (no responses received from Coylton, Mauchline, New Cumnock or Whatriggs
• Parent Survey 2 - NAC schools only (no responses received from St Anthony’s)
• Discussion with Road Safety Operatives

After Implementation (November/December 2023)

• School Visit 3 - SAC and EAC schools only
• Pupil Survey 3 - SAC and EAC schools only
• Parent Survey 3 - SAC and EAC schools only
• Discussion with Road Safety Operatives

Lessons Learnt (January 2024)

• Workshop with Road Safety Operatives

Limitations

There were some limitations to the evaluation, due to the nature of the project. These included:

• Due to timescales of the project, the evaluation was unable to take account of seasonality.
• In line with the request from the client, the pupil focus groups tended to involve Junior Road Safety Officers (JRSOs) or other pupils with an interest in active travel or road safety. These pupils had a greater insight and first-hand experience of the scheme, but their views may not necessarily represent the wider views of pupils across the school.
• Surveys were promoted across the schools, but were not compulsory, so respondents were self-selecting.
• Due to delays in some of the schools launching the scheme, it has not been possible to assess the extent to which the trials in North Ayrshire Council - which ran over a shorter period of time - performed compared to the longer-term trials in East Ayrshire Council and South Ayrshire Council, noting that some schools only fully engaged in the scheme after a further engagement session in October 2023.

Report Structure

The remainder of this report is structured as follows:

• Desktop Review - sets out key information about the schools involved in the trial, including roll information, catchment, and wider socio-economic data to provide context to the evaluation.
• Findings
  • School Visits: presents key findings from the pupil focus groups and teacher discussions.
  • Surveys: summarises key findings from the class surveys and parent/carer surveys undertaken as part of this evaluation.
  • Social Media: an overview is provided of feedback from monitoring of social media and wider press activities that have supported the trial.
  • Website and QR Code Usage: sets out page views from the project website.
  • Lessons Learnt: summarises the key successes and lessons learned from the process.
• Summary of Findings: presents a summary of the overall findings from the evaluation.

A number of appendices provide further detail and information on the evaluation:

• Appendix A: School Context sets out the wider contextual analysis undertaken for each school.
• Appendix B: Map Task Summary sets out the findings from the map task undertaken in the initial school focus groups.
• Appendix C: Pupil Focus Group Views on Road Safety and Active Travel sets out detailed results from the statements explored in the school focus groups.
• Appendix D: Parent/Carer Survey Promotional Poster
• Appendix E: Parent/Carer Survey Results