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Motorist speed compliance near Calgary Elementary Schools

Author(s): Hubka, Churchill, Rothman, Nettel-Aguirre, Hagel

Slidedeck Presentation Only:

3C_Hubka

Abstract:

Background/Context: Across Canada, collisions with motor-vehicles are a leading cause of child bicyclist and pedestrian injuries. In Alberta alone, annually, over 300 children are admitted to hospital due to a severe pedestrian or bicyclist injury. Higher vehicle speeds result in higher collision rates and greater injury severity. Given that a third of child pedestrian or bicyclist injuries occur within 300m of a school, it is important to ensure vehicles travel in a safe manner at these locations. Knowledge of motorist's speed in school zones, can inform and prioritize intervention strategies' design to reduce child pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and fatalities.

Aims/Objectives: This study sought to determine the proportion of cars traveling over the posted speed limit, and the magnitude of their speeding, in front of elementary schools in Calgary, Alberta.

Methods/Targets: The City of Calgary placed pneumatic tubes measuring speed in front of Public and Separate Calgary school board Elementary Schools, for periods ranging from 1-5 weekdays. The volume of cars travelling in pre-determined speed categories/bins each hour was then recorded. Speeding was based on posted City of Calgary speed limits and speed bin size, and included vehicles travelling >50kph between 9pm-8am, and >34kph between 8am-9pm. Data were averaged across the number of days which tubes were placed at each school.

Results/Activities: Forty-seven schools were visited between May and June 2018. Schools were located in all quadrants of the city: 16 (34%) in the North West, 13 (28%) in the North East, 9 (19%) in the South East, and 9 (19%) in the South West. Preliminary results indicate that, on average, 2798 vehicle passing's (SD: 2896; range: 160-15,438) drove past each school per day, with average 21% of these (SD: 9.9; range 3-48%) over the speed limit. During school hours (8am to 5pm), an average of 1497 vehicle passing's (SD: 1563; range 123 -8610) drove past each school, with 16% (SD: 8.4; 2-39%) over the speed limit. During the school drop-off time (8-9am), an average of 211 vehicles (SD: 216, range 20-1206) passed by each school, with 12% (SD: 8.0; range: 0-35%) travelling over the speed limit. Of those speeding during school hours, vehicles were either travelling between 35-42kmh (86.2%), 43-50kmh (11.8%), 51-58kmh (1.6%) or 59-90kmh (0.4%).

Discussion/Deliverables: Between 16% and 21% of vehicles travelling adjacent to Calgary elementary schools were travelling over the speed limit. The majority of speeders during school hours were above the speed limit by 5-12kmh. This increase can potentially double the risk of fatality during a collision. An underestimation of the proportion of vehicles speeding may have occurred due to speed bin ranges (speeding >34 rather than 30kph).

Conclusions: A large proportion of vehicles travelling adjacent to Calgary elementary schools travel over the posted speed limit. Travelling faster than the legal limit can significantly increase the risk of injury and death in child pedestrians. Future studies should consider interventions that prioritize motorist compliance with speed limits when in locations of high child presence such as school zones.