Safe Routes To School - Safe School Zones

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The idea of a school zone is to take the area around the school and create a safer environment for children coming to and leaving the school. The school zone:

• starts at the front door
• encompasses the immediate campus
• extends into as many of the surrounding blocks as is realistic.

Ideally, safe school zones should cover all of the blocks that have a high concentration of school-generated traffic. The ultimate goal is to provide a zone where children can walk and bicycle to school safely.

A successful school safety zone highlights the presence of a school and school children within the surrounding area. Safety is significantly increased when the hazards are identified and than eliminated and when travel speeds are reduced. This can and should be done in cooperation with the school and school district administrators, and local government, including elected officials, the municipal engineer, and city planners.

Sidewalks and Crossings
Continuous and well maintained sidewalks are a necessity. Any gaps in the sidewalks may force children into the street. If your town doesn't have sidewalks, the area around schools is a good place to start. Pay particular attention to signage and high visibility crosswalks. Some schools use the special neon green color to boost the visibility of their crosswalks.

Drop-Off Areas
One of the biggest safety hazards around a school can be parents or caretakers dropping off and picking up their children. For many schools the first step in creating a school safety zone is to designate a drop-off / pick-up area. This area must be located away from where children on foot cross streets or access the school. The area needs to be clearly marked and parents must be made aware of the policy. Getting buy-in within the school community should help to minimize enforcement and maximize the effectiveness of the drop-off area.

Enforcement
The local police should be brought on board to help designate the pick-up/drop-off area and the designated safe school zone. The enforcement of motor vehicle speeds is very important, but enforcement is labor intensive and can be sporadic. Remember that good design forces good behavior. Make the area one that discourages high travel speeds, using “traffic calming” strategies that include:

• narrowing streets
• reducing crossing distances
• clear signage
• easily-identifiable crosswalks

Funding
Creating school zones that increase the visibility of school children is good sound policy.

Some regions and states have safe routes to school programs and even offer grants to provide technical assistance. You should be able to find out what if any assistance is available to your school through the mayor's office or your state bike/ped coordinator. (Use the state link box in the right-hand column to find contacts in your state.

Resources
Look at the School Zone Improvements section of the PEDSAFE Pedestrian Safety Guide from the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Also look at the Safe Routes to School: Practice and Promise booklet from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Both items are linked in the Resources box below.

You'll also find some good information in the article, Transportation Professionals Get In- volved with Safe Routes to School, by David Parisi. It is reprinted from the Institute of Traffic Engineers Jounnal, March 2005.

- Pedsafe, Pedestrian Safety Guide: School Zone Improvements (USDOT, FHWA) | Online Resource
- Safe Routes To School Practice and Promise (NHTSA) | Online Resource
- Transportation Professionals Get Involved in Safe Routes To School, D. Parisi | PDF File 535KB