Two years ago I wrote about my experience that a significant part of the safety problem in a school zone was caused by teachers and parents themselves. Their driving behaviour as they showed up to work or dropped off their children sometimes left a lot to be desired. Did they not realize that they were contributing to the problem?
The Walking School Bus
At that time, one of the solutions that I had to offer was the walking school bus. This is where parents take turns walking the neighbourhood group of children to school. Everyone benefits from the exercise, the children are safer and traffic congestion in the school zone is reduced.
Active and Safe Routes to School
We know that there's a problem, but how do we deal with it? The City of Toronto is trying an Active and Safe Routes to School pilot project as a part of their Vision Zero Road Safety Plan. This will see areas around schools being designated as Community Safety Zones.
These zones will see painted crosswalks, active speed reader signs. increased enforcement and higher penalties.
Of the four, the only one that I know for sure results in a measurable effect is the speed reader sign. It's always there and working.
Do the police have the resources to maintain an enforcement level necessary to result in a lasting level of compliance? Would we accept automated enforcement in school zones? The current political climate in B.C. seems to indicate that it is possible, but as yet nothing has been implemented.
Examples of School Zone Solutions in Europe
Vienna Austria, Bolzano Italy (see video below) and Haddington Scotland have taken a different approach. They have decided to exclude motor vehicle traffic around primary schools. Vienna's closure is at the start of the school day, with Bolzano and Haddington at the beginning, lunch hour and end of the day.
These are pilot projects for Vienna and Haddington, but Bolzano has had this program in place for 21 years. Bolzano found that traffic jams are reduced and safety has increased, reducing the collision rate by half, resulting in about 45% of students walking to school.
Traffic Calming
Traffic calming measures lie somewhere in between. Here are some examples from the Netherlands. The use of signs, coloured pavement, marked crosswalks and chicanes are markedly different from what is found here in B.C.
Defining the Problem
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Applying the concept of High Occupancy Vehicles to where teachers can park their vehicles in the school parking lot and also where parents can stop their vehicles when unloading and loading children at their school might help to relieve congestion.
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Yes, hopefully there is a change in BC to a few more "rules" for our society, a little less emphasis on individual rights and freedoms, which has impacted community safety, order.
Yes the speed indicators are useful. Advertised photo radar in school zones would be effective, I think. Advertised photo radar in high crash zones would be more effective than doing nothing.
The present government has few solutions. It is time for change.
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Education is the key
Society can not be full with regulations, jail and fines
Educate educate educate
Our system is tacitly teaching kids that they have all the rights and no responsibility
You can put a bubble outside a school and the Military to protect our kids BUT one day thise kids will grow and their expectations will be that they are kings and need protection
That's how you raise entitled people
Education
Education
Repetition
Don't just keep contractors fed with contracts to paint more and more signs and creating more road restrictions
Educate
Repeat
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Now with the Road full of Signs Familiarity and complacency creeps in and I believe we need attention getters for the School Zones in as much that we might consider changing the signage every so often I e: different Colours and different shapes I believe that a new Sign with a different Shape and different Colour would be instantly Noticed by drivers like bursting star like shapes or trapezoid shapes or 5 cornered shapes etc etc a whole bunch of these signs could be designed and all designated as possible school zone signs but I bet they would be Noticed ( maybe the Kids could Help design Them) think there is some Merit here?
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Implement HOV Lanes