Mobility and safety around schools

As students head back to school, ensuring their safety becomes a top priority for parents, educators and communities. School zones are particularly sensitive areas that require extra caution on everyone’s part.

At CIMA+, our commitment to community safety goes beyond the design and construction of infrastructure. Every day, thousands of students rely on safe roads, clear signage and well-designed crosswalks to get to and from school. From advanced traffic control systems to safer crosswalks, our teams are dedicated to creating environments that protect the youngest members of our communities.

We spoke to some of our specialists to find out why mobility and safety around schools are so important, and what’s at stake when designing and implementing new facilities.

Are there any rules or standards to be applied to traffic near schools? What’s the biggest threat to schoolchildren?

Audrey: It should be noted that the only elements listed in the Highway Safety Code are:

• Signage at the beginning and end of the school zone.
• The speed limit applicable in a school zone must be set at 50 km/h or less during defined school periods.

Municipalities are therefore not required to make any improvements around schools beyond the installation of traffic signs limiting the speed of motorists. However, such signs are often not enough to encourage drivers to slow down and change their behavior.

Ludmilla: Vehicle speed is the greatest threat to the safety of schoolchildren on their way to and from school. In a collision between a pedestrian and a vehicle travelling at 50 km/h, the pedestrian’s chance of survival is only 25%, whereas it is 90% at a speed of 30 km/h.

With the recent adoption of Bill 48 by the Quebec National Assembly (insert hyperlink to the bill), there is talk of reducing speeds to 30 km/h in school zones and corridors. However, these speed limits are difficult to enforce without adequate infrastructure. At CIMA+, we create adapted solutions to help municipalities reduce the speed of motorists near schools. This sometimes involves temporary or transitional measures, until the necessary budgets for permanent developments are approved.

Denis: At present, there is little in the way of signage to ensure the safety of students, especially near elementary schools. In the vicinity of schools, the street and its surroundings should be designed differently to signal to users that they are in an area where children are circulating. Our standards should include a comprehensive chapter on traffic calming measures around schools.

What are the biggest challenges in terms of safety around schools? Can you give us some examples?

Catherine: The impatience of motorists before the start and end of school hours is a major challenge. During these “chaotic” periods, the majority of students, parents and buses all arrive at the same time, resulting in a high concentration of pedestrians and motorists having to coexist. Traffic is generally slowed down by the large number of students on the street and the limited space available to unload those arriving by bus or car. Extremely dangerous behavior can be observed, such as disobeying school crossing guards’ instructions, reversing in pedestrian crossings, double-parking, making U-turns (180° turns), etc.

Ludmilla: There’s a lack of space for pedestrians on sidewalks and at bus stops, especially around high schools. School schedules mean that teenagers arrive or leave school at the same time and in large numbers. They circulate in groups and overflow the sidewalks, forcing them to walk in the street. The public space around schools is poorly distributed and mainly favors vehicles.

At CIMA+, we develop solutions to resize spaces reserved for pedestrians, such as bus stops and temporary parking lots. We go beyond the requirements set out in the guides and ensure that our solutions are adapted to our clients’ different contexts and realities.

Are there any incidents that highlight safety problems around schools?

Ludmilla: Vehicles are getting bigger and bigger, like SUVs, which creates a space challenge. These vehicles are heavier, taller and have wider frames, which reduces visibility for the driver (blind spot, height of children, etc.). A driver won’t have the reflex to brake if he or she doesn’t detect a pedestrian and his or her intention to cross. Visibility issues are paramount and are taken into account in the design of every project we are entrusted with.

Audrey: Over the past few years, more and more parents have been driving their children to school every morning. Streets near schools are not necessarily designed to allow them to drop off their children quickly and safely. Without an adequate drop-off point, the arrangement is not functional to channel the volume of vehicular and pedestrian traffic, and the number of observable dangerous maneuvers peaks, increasing the risk of collision. It is therefore necessary to consider the installation of a landing area adapted to the level of traffic in the vicinity of the school during peak periods.

Ludmilla: Most schoolchildren are within walking, scooting or cycling distance of their schools, but the lack of dedicated space for safe, active mobility is problematic. Given the risk of accidents to which children are exposed, parents prefer to drive them to school, which exacerbates the traffic problem.

Some schools have taken the initiative of temporarily closing the school street to vehicular traffic at peak times (start and end of classes). Citizens’ vehicles requiring access to the street are escorted by a brigade. It’s a great initiative for student safety, but it requires a lot of management, and so can’t always be maintained from one school year to the next.

The collaboration of all stakeholders is essential to review the place given to each mode of transportation in neighborhoods, and on the way to and from school, for the health and safety of our kids.

Catherine: When you’re a parent, an employee, or a citizen living near a school, you see and experience the real safety issues inherent in school zones. I witnessed a near-miss during a school visit in the course of my work. One of the parents in a car reversed into a pedestrian crossing, endangering schoolchildren. Fortunately, the school crossing guard stepped in on time to avoid the worst. We need to reduce the space dedicated to cars and give more to pedestrians in school zones, especially when school starts and ends.

What solutions does CIMA+ offer in terms of road safety?

Audrey: At CIMA+, we help our clients identify issues and implement measures to improve safety around schools. We design facilities adapted to the needs of schools, to ensure a safe environment for all users.

The following are some examples of solutions:

• Separation of the various modes of travel (walking, cycling, cars, buses, delivery trucks) and the various types of facilities (drop-off points, parking for employees and visitors, etc.) to reduce the risk of conflict.
• Development of pedestrian and bicycle corridors for better sharing of traffic space.
• Improved visibility for pedestrians (curb extensions, raised crossings and intersections, addition of a median strip for two-stage crossing, etc.).
• Conversion of temporary landings into permanent ones.

Denis: Here are some examples of the concepts we’ve been working on (see end of the blog).

What mobility challenges do students face in winter?

Denis: In winter, snow removal is a major challenge: sidewalks are inaccessible, snow accumulations obstruct visibility, and pedestrians have to walk in the streets. All this combined with difficult traffic conditions for motorists (snow, ice, low visibility, etc.) has a direct impact on the mobility and safety of all pedestrians and cyclists.

Outside Montréal, bike paths are not always maintained in winter, forcing cyclists to ride on the streets or to give up cycling during this season.

Catherine: During snow removal operations, cities draw up a list of priorities for clearing snow from their entire road network. Generally speaking, the first level of priority includes arterial roads, the busiest roads and those around health establishments. For some cities, like Montréal, schools are among the first roads to be cleared.

Even with snow-cleared streets and sidewalks, winter brings a number of safety issues. Roads narrowed by snow and impassable sidewalks reduce space for pedestrians, who feel less safe. What’s more, people use their cars more in winter, which increases traffic around schools.

How do schools, communities and CIMA+ work together to improve safety and mobility around schools?

Catherine: We systematically organize a site visit to observe safety issues and discuss with parents, school crossing guards, employees and citizens. Their opinions on the problems observed and their suggestions for improving the situation are essential to tailoring our recommendations to the real needs of schools and the neighborhoods in which they are located.

We work with school boards and schools to survey parents’ travel habits and take into account their perceptions of traffic and safety near schools.