In an effort to prioritize pedestrian safety, the city of Calgary will install new in-street crosswalk signs near its elementary schools. Photo courtesy City of Calgary
In an effort to prioritize pedestrian safety, the city of Calgary will install new in-street crosswalk signs near its elementary schools.
Starting this month, the signs will be installed near schools that accommodate students in Grade 6 or lower if there is a feasible location for installation. The goal is to have all of them in place by the end of the 2023 to 2024 school year.
To prepare for the rollout of the signs, the city partnered with the University of Calgary during the 2020 to 2021 academic year to conduct a traffic safety pilot project in proximity to elementary schools. It aimed to assess their impact on driver speeds, as well as the number of people walking or biking.
While the study was taking place, the city implemented various traffic calming measures at intersections near 52 randomly selected elementary schools. Data was collected regarding speed and volume, to evaluate the effectiveness of the measures.
Ultimately, the results showed a slight reduction in vehicular speeds at locations with in-street school crosswalk signs, particularly in the morning and afternoon. Additionally, pedestrians crossing at the intersections felt safer.
With the study complete, the city installed a collection of these signs in summer 2021. They are expected to be installed at more than 300 locations across the city.
“Our studies have shown this type of signage, that is brightly coloured and located in the roadway, is noticeable to both drivers and pedestrians and has been found to slow motorists down and increase yielding,” says Surendra Mishra, traffic engineer in the city’s Mobility Traffic Safety group. “We wanted to see if these in-street school crosswalk signs would lower driver speeds and promote safer conditions for pedestrians, particularly during peak times when conflicts between pedestrians and vehicular traffic are more likely to occur.”
