At RTL, we believe that creating safe environments for our youngest community members is not just a responsibility—it's our foundation. In this insightful interview, Cameron Ward shares his journey in school transport safety and the evolving challenges faced by Hamilton schools.

What first drew you to a school transport safety career path, and what experiences have shaped your approach to protecting our most vulnerable road users?

I studied a bachelor of Physical Education at Otago University, while I was doing that I did health promotion papers and was always interested in public health, post uni I landed a job working with the Waikato District Health Board as a health promoter working within schools, setting up walking school buses and healthy breakfast clubs was part of my portfolio. I really enjoy working with school communities to ensure best outcomes for students. I then went on my OE to London. On my return a job was being advertised as a school travel coordinator which was a perfect fit for me given I already had great relationships working with the schools here in Hamilton. I have now been at council for 9 years and loving it.

How have you seen school safety needs change during your time in this role, and how do you stay ahead of emerging challenges?

Hamilton is a car-centric city, people just love their cars, it’s easy to drive around Hamilton which makes this possible. However being the fastest growing city in the country our streets are becoming busier our schools are growing and at capacity which means school gates are chaotic. School gate chaos is nothing new and there are issues outside all schools across the country however I feel over the last 5 years in particular this issue has intensified in Hamilton… also impacts of intensification means there are lots of people competing for limited space on our streets.

Personally I also think there has been an attitude change around schools, maybe post covid? I feel tolerance levels are low, there is a real sense of entitlement, people doing what is convenient for one rather then what is safe for the collective. Behavioural issues outside schools has definitely increased over the last 5 years… working with schools to combat this and using new tactics/new initiatives like the A frame signs that I now have outside 37 schools in Hamilton have helped with behavioural issues, the signs read “Parking here endangers our students…THINK”, they are bright yellow and act as a constant reminder of how parking poorly affects the safety of students.

School safety seems to require a village of dedicated individuals. Could you walk us through how Hamilton City Council, Police, Connect Hamilton, schools, and parents all work together to create a safety ecosystem? Who else is involved that we might not think about?

It really is a team effort when it comes to school safety; school parents generally are awesome and do what’s best/safe for the collective. Principals and teachers are also great and just want to ensure all students can travel to/from school safely, teachers out on road patrol every morning and afternoon.… however they often require support from councils and the police. 

In Hamilton we have the School Community Officers (SCOs/Police) who do a fantastic job in educating students about road safety and in particular training road patrollers to patrol school crossings around the city, a highly important job. 

Our contractors for Hamilton City Council Connect Hamilton look after all infrastructure including broken road patrol equipment, footpaths, flooding, fallen trees all sorts. My team who do a lot of education in schools from bike/scooter skills, assemblies, to active mode promotions and initiatives. Another important group who do amazing work outside schools and often are the unsung heroes are parking wardens, patrolling outside schools is hard work!!! often getting verbal abuse and in one case (physical abuse)… what parents/caregivers need to understand is parking wardens are often requested by the principal/schools themselves as the behaviours they see from their school community are often so dangerous and scary they need help to fix it… It really does require a network and whole school approach to ensure our most vulnerable network users (children) can get to/from school safely.

What innovations or improvements would you like to see from industry suppliers like RTL that would help address the specific safety challenges Hamilton schools are facing? Are there gaps in current solutions that need filling?

Stayput systems are great! This has been a game changer for schools who now have them and I will slowly try to have more put around Hamilton schools.

I think anything that can help change the road layout to give better awareness that school zones are in place, equipment like flashing lights. I love the electronic variable speed signs, also electronic signs that flash up “slow down”  “reduce speed” or signs that flash up what speed drivers are doing so they can check themselves when coming down hills ect around schools. Those types of signs are very effective compared to the static signs. I feel people get sign fatigue… having signs that change constantly have more impact, catch the eye.

Based on your experience with various crossing systems, what specific features of the RTL StayPut School Patrol System do you find most valuable for addressing real-world school crossing challenges?

Although we only have a few in Hamilton I am actively trying to get more funding to get more in across the city; our old systems tend to get broken easily and I am forever replacing broken equipment or requesting our contractors to go out and fix bits and pieces. The Stayput systems have not had any issues what so ever, they are also a lot easier to manage for the schools by not needing to lug heavy equipment around every morning and afternoon. The Stayput systems are also secure in their lockable case onsite, compared to road patrol equipment which often gets vandalised outside schools as they are large they need to be padlocked against classrooms, not needing to worry about securing them or finding storage space for them is a huge bonus.

Have you received any feedback from schools or student patrols who use the StayPut system? What improvements have they seen compared to traditional crossing equipment?

One school in particular needed to lug their old signs up a step hill, this was a real challenge especially on windy, wet days. The school has loved the Stayput system and more students are putting their hand up to be wardens as it is a lot easier.

For schools concerned about crossing safety, what would be your advice on building a compelling case for funding? How can schools/communities get in touch with you for funding applications?

Schools in Hamilton know that they just need to contact me at council if they are wanting any upgrades, if it makes sense we are pretty good at finding funding to get the work done in the next funding rounds. Other avenues would be to involve the elected members who can help escalate their requests. However I would hope they wouldn’t need to go down that route.

Looking to the future, what do you believe is the most important shift needed – whether in infrastructure, education, or community attitudes – to create truly sustainable school transport safety systems?

I think all of the above; our infrastructure to support safe and sustainable modes has come a long way over the 9 years that I have worked at council, we have done some awesome work around the city making it safer for people on active modes, there is still a long way to go but I am optimistic and excited about some of the projects in the pipelines outside some schools.

Education will always play a key part in safe school travel, whether that be with parents and drivers down to students themselves, at the end of the day you can have all the best infrastructure however the only person you can truly rely on to keep yourself safe is yourself, so educating students and giving them the knowledge on how to keep as safe as possible is vital. A good example of this is at school signalised crossings (traffic lights), you would think these crossings would be fairly safe however we have lots of incidents where drivers get distracted and fail to stop, driving straight through red lights… educating students that they just don’t cross on the ‘greenman’ that they have to ‘check before you step’, is a key bit of education we teach students across Hamilton.

Lastly changing behaviours of parents who constantly break road rules, it’s an aspect which I find the hardest to get real change in, the parking wardens are great for a temporary fix however as soon as they are gone the same issues come back, almost immediately… I would love to have more cameras around schools monitoring poor behaviour and some sort of capability where they can issue instant fines for poor behaviour…maybe one day.