Seven Parts of an Effective Traffic Safety Plan for Schools

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of the kids who die each year are killed in a motor vehicle crash.  Schools are responsible for the safety of their students once they enter the school grounds and some parents would argue the school is responsible even before the child enters the school grounds.

Most schools have developed plans to deal with many types of emergencies, most commonly the fire drill. The same level of planning should be applied to developing a traffic safety plan for the school. The strategies for improving traffic safety within the school grounds can be developed solely by school staff, but we have found parent involvement to be very helpful in creating and implementing the plan. A sound traffic safety plan will have the following components:

1. Documenting existing traffic conditions.

2. Strategies for minimizing the interaction between students and moving vehicles.

3. Strategies for minimizing the traffic impacts of school generated traffic on the local street system.

4. Strategies for increasing the visibility of students when they are required to mix with vehicles.

5. Strategies for slowing down traffic when students are near vehicles.

6. Strategies for controlling the arrival and departure of students.

7. Educating students about traffic safety.

Future posts will flesh out each of these seven components of an effective school traffic safety plan.

Comments

[Defensive Driving]

This is awesome. As rightly mentioned here in this blog, knowledge on traffic safety is as much required as it is with fire safety. Schools, especially should inculcate this habit of traffic safety classes.

[Alvin Sarmiento]

I also agree. The community that I live in worked out contract talks about keeping crossing guards at schools to prevent any car accident. I was happy to see the school I volunteer with has crossing guards to guide the students. However some school didn't have that. When I was in elementary school, I didn't have any crossing guards to guide me across the street. Even now, my elementary school does not have one. It is just sad that schools may not have funding to increase the safety of its students.

[Kevin Haley]

Great Information you have here. Can We use this informatin or have you got copy write on the material?
Also we would like for you to contact us regarding some ideas for our school.

Thanks for taking the time for the kids.