#80 Safety Around Schools (pt 4)

The safety around schools short series has so far looked at vulnerable road users and active transport (brief #77), speed zones and limits (brief #78), and traffic flow and congestion (brief #79), drawing on recent Austroads publications including the Travel to School Guideline and related research reports. Finally, part 4 of the series looks at crossings and traffic calming for safe school travel.

Crossings

Provision and design of appropriate crossings is critical for safety performance and the promotion of active travel according to Austroads (2026)[1]. In design and implementation, appropriate connection to safe walking and cycling routes is critical to maximising crossing use and effectiveness. Several types of crossing are commonly used in Australian school precincts, and some may be used in combination, including:

• Raised platform (including Wombat and raised Zebra)

• Traditional Zebra (not raised)

• Signalised (user-activated)

• Flagger-attended (Stop/Slow bat)

• Refuge crossing

  
  

Focusing on raised platform crossings as a primary Safe System treatment and one of the most effective single measures, these are a permanent speed reduction treatment providing vertical deflection and potentially increasing visibility of vulnerable road users. While design and implementation vary, the Austroads Guide to Road Safety Part 2 (AGRS02-24) documents casualty crash reductions of 40 - 50% for raised platform crossings at Australian sites (not exclusively school zones). It is also noted that late braking ahead of raised platforms has been observed in some cases and can potentially lead to rear-end crashes. However, Austroads notes that this is most evident at newer installations and ‘there is no tangible evidence of significant safety concerns’.

Community surveys help to understand where crossing upgrades and/or additional crossings may be needed. An example is provided in the case study of Talara Primary College on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, where caregivers were asked to identify up to 10 points on a map where safer crossings were needed within a radius of approximately 1 km from the school (Figure 1). This form of consultation and community engagement represents part of a best practice approach to realising safe school travel.

Figure 1: Heat map of need for safer crossings according to community survey

(Source: Austroads AP-R751-26)

Crossing selection tools can assist practitioners to choose the most appropriate crossing type according to site characteristics such as safety performance, operational variables and environmental and physical attributes. Austroads provides an example tool which can assess ‘raised platforms, kerb extensions, median refuges, zebra crossings, signals, grade separation or combinations of these facilities’.

The Travel to School Guideline[2] also offers a method to assess the ‘suitability of each type of crossing design, depending on the speed and volume of traffic and the number of lanes to be crossed in one movement’, as reproduced in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Crossing type suitability for users in different street environments

(Source: Austroads AP-G111-26)

Traffic calming

Complementing appropriate crossing facilities are traffic calming measures and associated guidance. Physical and perceptual traffic calming measures are primarily used in low-speed urban environments to reduce speeds, focused on protecting vulnerable road users. These may include:

• speed platforms (including raised platform crossings)

• traffic islands

• narrow lanes

• changes in delineation

• changes in surface colour and/or texture.

  
  

While safety benefits of individual and combined treatments depend on many site-specific factors, Australian research has found traffic calming measures reduce serious and fatal pedestrian crashes by up to 70%[3].

Key references for further reading

• Travel to School Guideline (Austroads, 2026)

• Travel to School: Principles Underpinning the Guidance (Austroads, 2026)  

• Travel to School: Best Practice and Consultation Findings (Austroads, 2026)

• Speed Zoning Policy and Technical Guidelines (Victoria, 2025)

[1] Austroads (2026). Travel to School: Best Practice and Consultation Findings (AP-R751-26). Sydney, Austroads.

[2] Austroads (2026). Travel to School Guideline (AP-G111-26). Sydney, Austroads.

[3] Austroads (2024). Austroads Guide to Road Safety Part 2 (AGRS02-24). Sydney, Austroads.