About Traffic Safety Around Schools

The City of Richmond undertakes and supports a number of initiatives and on-going activities to increase the level of traffic and pedestrian safety around schools.  These programs include:

• publication and distribution of educational brochures and pamphlets, and encouragement of alternative transportation modes to/from school;
• joint initiatives with external agencies to improve traffic safety around schools;
• establishment and enforcement of traffic control measures around school zones; and
• provision of infrastructure to support safe routes to schools (e.g., paved pedestrian pathways and crosswalks).

Traffic Safety Awareness Week
Traffic Safety Awareness Week is an annual campaign typically held during the first week of March to raise community awareness about creating safer traffic environments at our schools and in our neighbourhoods through driver and pedestrian education and the promotion of safe alternative transportation options that reduce vehicle congestion. 

Highlights of the event are the "Walking Yellow Wednesday" inter-school challenge, whereby the school with the highest student participation rate receives the Mayor’s Golden Shoe trophy, and the placement of yellow tape and bright yellow plastic lawn signs featuring the message “Please Slow Down - School Zone” in neighbourhoods surrounding participating schools to serve as visual reminders and warnings to drivers of the presence of pedestrians and schoolchildren.

Traffic Safety Advisory Committee
The Richmond Traffic Safety Advisory Committee (TSAC) was established in 1997 to create a co-operative partnership between City staff, community groups and other agencies that seeks to enhance traffic and pedestrian safety in Richmond.  The Committee provides input on traffic management and engineering measures to address identified traffic safety concerns and promotes traffic safety through various joint education and enforcement programs.  TSAC has representation from the following groups: City Transportation Division, City Community Bylaws Division, Richmond RCMP, Richmond Fire-Rescue, Richmond School District, Richmond District Parents Association, and ICBC.  

Safer Traffic Around Richmond Schools (STARS) Initiative
The number of actual traffic incidents around schools is low but we need to be diligent to prevent potential events from occurring.  The objective of this TSAC initiative is to raise public/parent awareness of the issues and concerns surrounding traffic safety in school zones in Richmond and to effectively reduce the number of vehicles entering school zones during regular school hours, thereby reducing the risk of incidents involving schoolchildren.  

Given competing priorities and limited resources, a key strategy of the project is to streamline and enhance the current process of analysing and resolving traffic safety concerns by actively involving community stakeholders (parents, teachers, students) in their identification, investigation and resolution.

A simple step-by-step framework guides community stakeholders to use recognized methods and techniques to analyze, develop and implement internal (school- or community-based) solutions to traffic and pedestrian safety concerns. 
See STARS for more information on this initiative.

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