Sustrans
School street closure traffic displacement and road safety concerns
Amount awarded
£88,110.60
Completed
2022
Making roads safer for…
All road users
Image courtesy of Sustrans
Project summary
School Streets are roads open to people walking and cycling but restrict access for motor vehicles at the start and end of the school day.
Sustrans partnered with Birmingham City Council, who were delivering their ‘Car Free School Street’ programme of School Street schemes. Birmingham currently has 17 ‘Car Free School Streets’ across the city.
The two schools monitored were Hillstone Primary School and Somerville Primary School, with a review of traffic speed and volume; illegal or hazardous parking and driving behaviour; and traffic interactions, whilst surveys with local residents and interviews with council officers and school staff were conducted to assess perceptions of safety.
In addition, Sustrans has developed best practice guidance on School Streets for practitioners.
The research revealed that the School Streets led to overall drops in traffic volume. Traffic around the Hillstone School saw an 8% reduction seven months after the start of the scheme.
This project follows a survey on school streets commissioned by Sustrans in 2019, which found nearly two-thirds (63%) of UK teachers would support car-free roads outside schools during drop-off and pickup times. During Sustrans School Streets as part of the Big Pedal 2019, a survey found that 90% of parents and residents would support a street closure regularly outside the school.
This new evidence builds on broader existing research gathered in the project’s literature review, which has found that across School Streets schemes, there has been no significant traffic displacement to surrounding streets. The schemes also have not created road safety risks that cannot be adequately mitigated by measures such as Park & Stride routes.
Click on the buttons below to download the reports and practitioner’s guide.
