ATS report highlights school zone safety

A report by American Traffic solutions (ATS), How to Help Eliminate Dangers of Traveling to and from School (and Keep Kids Safe), highlights the dangers children face as they travel to and from school and details some of the successes schools and cities are having with new solutions to both change driver behaviour and enhance student safety. Every year, on average, 100 children are killed and 25,000 are injured walking to and from school. Many of these tragedies can be attributed to drivers who are distr
August 29, 2014 Read time: 2 mins

A report by 17 American Traffic solutions (ATS), How to Help Eliminate Dangers of Traveling to and from School (and Keep Kids Safe), highlights the dangers children face as they travel to and from school and details some of the successes schools and cities are having with new solutions to both change driver behaviour and enhance student safety.

Every year, on average, 100 children are killed and 25,000 are injured walking to and from school. Many of these tragedies can be attributed to drivers who are distracted, speeding through school zones or illegally passing stopped school buses as children move toward or away from the bus. Enforcing traffic laws can help reduce these hazards, but the demands on officers make it impossible for them to maintain a constant presence on school buses and in school zones on a daily basis.

According to the ATS report, automated enforcement is a proven deterrent to excessive speeding in school zones and the practice of illegally passing school buses that are stopped to let children on or off.

The report claims: In Des Moines, WA, the number of motorists speeding in front of Woodmont Elementary School decreased by 82 per cent in the first six months of the city’s school zone speed safety camera program; The city of Seattle has seen a 27 per cent reduction in the number of violations issued since their school zone speed safety camera program started in December 2012; In Georgia, the state with highest number of school bus passing violations in the US, ATS’ CrossingGuard school bus stop arm safety cameras are reducing the threat to children from illegal passes. Violations decreased between 42 and 50 per cent in three areas after cameras were installed on buses to record illegal passes.

“This report should help remind all of us of the persistent dangers that students face,” said Charles Territo, ATS Senior President of Communications, Marketing and Public Affairs. “Around the country law enforcement and school districts are looking for new ways to increase student safety. We’re proud of how our school zone speed cameras and school bus stop arm safety solutions are helping keep children safe every day.”

Enforcement

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • USDOT to launch nationwide safety assessment of key bike/pedestrian routes
    September 11, 2014
    US transportation secretary Anthony Foxx has announced a new initiative to reduce the growing number of pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and fatalities through a comprehensive approach that addresses infrastructure safety, education, vehicle safety and data collection. Injuries and fatalities of pedestrian and people bicycling have steadily increased since 2009, at a rate higher than motor vehicle fatalities. From 2011 to 2012, pedestrian deaths rose six per cent and bicyclist fatalities went up almost s
    Read More
  • Speed reduction measures - carrot or stick?
    January 23, 2012
    In Sweden, marketing company DDB Stockholm employed a mock speed camera as part of a promotional campaign for automotive manufacturer Volkswagen. The result was worldwide online interest and promotion of the debate over excessive speed to the national level. A developing trend in traffic management policy is to look at how to induce road users to modify their behaviour by incentivising change rather than forcing it through the application of penalties. There have been several studies conducted into this; an
    Read More
  • Low-costs solutions to improve pedestrian safety
    May 8, 2015
    David Crawford welcomes low-cost safety initiatives for pedestrians in America. Some 10 people die each week in accidents on crosswalks in the US, that’s more than 10% of all pedestrian fatalities in road traffic incidents - the number of which is running at a five-year high. Ensuring crosswalks are safe is key in supporting the growing enthusiasm for walking as a travel mode. In the last decade of the 20th century, numbers walking to work in the US fell by 26%; while, as recently as 2012, Americans were e
    Read More
  • Drugs and driving: new international study
    January 25, 2012
    The incidence of drugs among drivers injured or killed in road accidents is in the range of 14-17 per cent, according to a new report published by the International Transport Forum, a transport think tank at the OECD. Cannabis and benzodiazepines top the list of drugs involved in lethal motor accidents, according to the study.
    Read More

Highlighted Content