Making the areas around schools safer

Last updated September 5, 2024
Reading time: 2 min

Schoolchildren should be able to get to school safely. The city is taking measures in the areas around elementary and secondary schools, day care centres and parksto reduce the number of children involved in vehicle collisions.

Primary measures to make areas around schools safer

Construction and reconfiguration projects have been carried out by the city to make areas around schools safer. For example:

Building or widening sidewalks

Sidewalks along school corridors keep kids from having to walk in the street. This is particularly important during rush hours or in the wintertime, when road width is reduced by snow accumulations.

Curb extensions

École du Grand-Héron in LaSalle. Curb extensions reduce the length of the pedestrian crossing on the road, which keeps vehicles from parking too close and makes children easier to see when they cross the street.
  • Before and after shots of an intersection. Before: Cars parked closed to the pedestrian crossing marks on the ground. After: Curb extensions, freshly painted pedestrian crossing marks and cars parked along the curb, away from the intersection.

Curb extensions, also known as sidewalk extensions, keep cars from parking too close to the intersection. This helps drivers and pedestrians to see each other better and cross more safely. Curb extensions shorten the distance to cross the road and make crossing faster.

Redesigning space for cars

Bike lanes and wider sidewalks near schools make for more effective shared public space and promote active transportation methods.

Speed bumps

École Fernand-Gauthier in Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles. Three consecutive speed bumps were added to the street in front of the school to make sure drivers obey the speed limit.
  • Before and after shots. Before: The street in front of the school had no speed bumps. After: Three speed bumps as wide as the streets were added.

Speed bumps are designed to slow down car traffic. Sometimes there is more than one speed bump on a stretch of road, helping drivers to slow down all along the road.

Pedestrian countdown lights

Pedestrian countdown lights with the familiar white silhouette and orange hand show how long pedestrians have to cross the street. The duration is set depending on the distance of the crossing and can also be adjusted to the needs of the area, such as the surroundings of a school

Adding pedestrian islands to intersections

École Augustin-Roscelli in Ahuntsic-Cartierville. Before: Pedestrians had to cross the street without stopping. After: The concrete extension of the median protects pedestrians who need to cross the street in two stages.
  • Before: An intersection with traffic lights and a pedestrian crossing. After: The median now has a concrete extension with tactile paving, which helps people with vision impairments locate the pedestrian island.

At an intersection, pedestrian islands allow people to cross the street in two stages or safely stop in the middle of the street.

School street safety program

Schools that took part in the school street safety program, which was implemented as part of the Vision Zéro initiative, are benefiting from these new measures. The program, which was offered in all boroughs, had many participating schools. Since its launch in 2020, the program has made the areas around 121 schools, 7 day care centres and 7 parks safer.

Quick search