This project will temporarily close the street in front of the school during morning drop off and afternoon pick up and use the vacant space in front of the school for engagement regarding safety and active transportation.

Despite continual efforts to manage traffic safety around schools at the beginning and end of the school day, there continue to be safety concerns that are largely a result of driver behavior. These concerns include traffic congestion and vehicles blocking crosswalks, double parked cars, U-turns, drivers letting children in and out of their vehicles in unsafe locations, and students walking between cars in travel lanes, which all lead to increased risk of serious injury.

The Vision Zero Road Safety Grant will support a two-week pilot project at Lena Shaw Elementary School in Surrey which will improve safety during these times by temporarily closing the street in front of the school to motor vehicles during morning drop off and afternoon pick up times. Surrey RCMP and Surrey Crime Prevention Society volunteers will help with the logistics of blocking off the school frontage and ensuring the safety of students entering and exiting the School Street Zone. Provisions will be made to allow residents along the closure, students with special needs, and school buses access to the school street during the closure times.

This pilot will further provide an opportunity to engage the students’ caregivers about safe driving, and healthy walking and cycling behaviors during pick-up and drop-off. This will be done through activating the School Street Zone and creating engagement and education opportunities and activities for the school community. At the end of this pilot, we hope that the school community will have a better understanding on how their road use behaviours effect safety around schools. This pilot also has a public health objective whereby increasing the number of students using active transportation to and from school will reduce the number of vehicles around the school at these busy times, thus making at safer for everyone.

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