School-area crossings across Canada experience an average of 4.5 pedestrian-vehicle near misses everyday, according to new findings from a national study commissioned by CAA and AMA.
The study monitored 30 school-area crosswalks in 11 Canadian cities over five school days, using video cameras and AI analysis to track pedestrian and vehicle movements.
Across all locations nationally, researchers recorded 660 pedestrian-vehicle conflicts through the study period.
One in every 84 pedestrians crossing the monitored locations nationwide experienced a near-miss conflict. The 12 Alberta sites included six crosswalks in Edmonton and six in Calgary, representing a range of intersection and crossing designs.
Researchers recorded a total of 72 pedestrian-vehicle conflicts at Alberta locations during the five-day study period. Most conflicts at the Alberta sites (79.2 per cent) involved vehicles travelling straight through intersections, while 20.8 per cent involved turning vehicles.
The national findings identified several intersection features that were linked to fewer pedestrian near miss conflicts:
- Traffic controls: Crosswalks at intersections controlled by a stop sign, a traffic signal, or roundabout had near-miss rates 20 times lower than those without these controls.
- Reduced speed signage: Crossings without reduced speed signage had a 67 per cent higher overall conflict rate than those with signage.
- Zebra markings: Crosswalks with zebra markings had 56 per cent fewer near-miss conflicts involving turning vehicles.
- Vehicle movements: Researchers recorded 2.6 as many near-miss conflicts involving vehicles leaving an intersection compared to vehicles entering one.
At the Alberta sites, the highest number of near misses occurred between 3-4 p.m., when 17 conflicts were recorded. This was followed by 12 conflicts between 4-5 p.m., and another 12 between 8-9 a.m., highlighting the importance of driver awareness during morning and afternoon school travel periods.
AMA Manager of Safe Communities Hannah Hamilton said this study is the first of its kind completed in North America that uses modern video analytics to look at school crosswalks specifically.
“The data we gain from it just reiterates and shows how important a few things are. One is road design and traffic control, and the other critical piece was crossings that did not have reduced speed zone signage had a 67 percent higher conflict rate,” Hamilton noted. “Those are aspects we can advocate for with municipalities.”
With drivers, the biggest thing the AMA has been noticing is crosswalks fall on roads we drive on every single day, Hamilton explained. “On routes that are really familiar to us.”
“We know based on psychology when we’re driving on roads we’re used to, we kind of zone out a bit, so that’s a form of distracted driving,” added Hamilton. “We should be paying more attention on the roads we’re most familiar with because that’s where these near misses happen the most.”
When it comes to school zones, Hamilton said, children are shorter, and they’re less predictable in their movements, so it’s up to drivers to create that space to ensure near misses and collisions don’t happen.
