A new study conducted by the British Columbia Automobile Association (BCAA) and Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) found that there is an average of four-and-a-half pedestrians, every day, who are nearly hit at crosswalks near schools.

For their research, BCAA and CAA utilized video cameras and AI analysis to monitor 30 school crosswalks in 11 Canadian cities over five school days. Two of those monitors were in Vancouver. 

Across the country, 660 near misses were recorded during those five days. That equates to about 1 in 84 people using school crosswalks coming close to being hit by a car. 

“Although it’s hard to read about near misses in school zones, this research gives us solid evidence about what we can all do to keep people safer,” says Linda Lawlor the associate manager of community impact at BCAA.  

“The positive message we can take from this is while there are lots of factors involved in risk, our own actions are important and do make school zones safer for everyone.”

The study found several ways that reduced the likelihood of being hit at these crosswalks. These included speed, signage and other road safety features.

In areas where the crosswalks had no school zone or speed reduction signage, people were 67 per cent more likely to be involved in a near miss.

If there was a traffic signal, stop sign or roundabout, the rate of being a near miss was 20 times lower than areas where these were not featured. 

Where crosswalks had zebra markings, there were 56 per cent less left- and right-turn near misses. 

The study found that the concerns around near misses reached beyond school hours. A total of 242 incidents were noted between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and between the hours of 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. But the highest number of incidents, 94, happened between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

“The research is alarming, but it also confirms the huge importance of simple things we can all do to keep school zones safer,” says Lawlor. 

“For drivers, just slowing down and being ready to react to the unexpected significantly reduces the risk of injuring someone. And for those walking or riding near schools, always using a marked crosswalk more than halves your risk.”