Areas around schools and kindergartens require careful design, prioritising safety. Studies show that one in five accidents involving children in Moscow occurs in a school zone. Children are among the most vulnerable road users. The city's task is to minimise the number of accidents involving young pedestrians.
In collaboration with the Urban St'14 design bureau, we have developed a set of recommendations for organising safe traffic around schools. As part of the project, we:
analysed global experience in creating safe school zones,
selected 10 typical Moscow schools representing different conditions and infrastructure contexts,
formulated principles and proposed specific measures to improve road safety near schools.
From the outset, our goal was to create a guide that would be accessible to more than just transport planning specialists. Step-by-step instructions and specific recommendations enable organisations serving school zones to identify their category and implement the necessary measures to enhance safety.
An interdisciplinary team analysed international best practices, studied the current state of transport infrastructure near Moscow schools and prepared improvement recommendations. These include technical solutions and elements of the urban environment aimed at reducing the risk of traffic accidents.
In order to compile the catalogue of solutions, 10 types of school were identified based on the characteristics of their street space. The typology took the following into account:
— street class (city-wide, district or local);
— the presence or absence of school grounds;
— the presence of transit traffic.
Key issues were identified for each type of school, and recommendations for organising safe spaces were formulated accordingly.
The developed methodology is universal and can be applied in any Russian city. This approach has already been successfully used in a project for Kazan.
