School Zone Safety Improvement Project

WASHINGTON

PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS PROGRAM AREA(S)
  Targets hard-to-reach/at risk population   Police Traffic Services
       
TYPE OF JURISDICTION    
  State    
       
TARGETED POPULATION(S) JURISDICTION SIZE
  General Population   5,430,000


PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Surveys conducted by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC) in Yakima, Washington, showed significant violations of speed limits in school crosswalk and playground areas. In response to these serious safety concerns, legislation was enacted doubling fines for speeding in a school zone. The legislation provided that half of the new fine total would be earmarked for improving school zone safety.


GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goal of the School Zone Safety Improvement Project was to improve compliance of existing speed limit laws in school zones. In order to achieve this goal, WTSC established the following objectives:


STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

The WTSC teamed with other organizations having a vested interested in traffic safety, including local law enforcement and Safe Communities coalitions, to plan a series of strategies and activities designed to meet the WTSC goal and objectives for the project. The activities included the following:


RESULTS
Since the School Safety Zone Improvement Project was initiated in September 1996, it has supported funding for more than 100 local, county, and state agencies and Indian tribes applying for enforcement grants. The campaign has seen a marked increase in the number of citations issued to violators of the school zone laws, rising from 1,500 citations issued in the year 1995 to more than 3,000 issued in the first four months of the program.

The grant funds awarded were used for activities other than for enforcement, including outfitting of school crossing guards, publicity for "red ribbon" ceremonies for sign installation, purchase and installation of "Double Fine" signs, enhanced community policing efforts and increased police presence near schools. Preliminary data from effectiveness studies indicate that there are no long-term effects of signage without enforcement.

Based on the success of the project, the Washington State Legislature enacted legislation in 1997 that doubled the penalty for passing a stopped school bus, with the expectation that the School Zone Safety Improvement Project be replicated to improve compliance with laws regarding stopped school busses. Half the fines collected from enforcement of the new law will be dedicated to this effort.

FUNDING
  State:

$300,000

CONTACT  
  Les Pope
Washington Traffic Safety Commission
P.O. Box 40944
Olympia, WA 98504-0944
(360) 586–3872


National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Fall 1997