Road safety is an essential aspect of urban planning and community well-being, particularly in areas surrounding educational and other institutions of social interest, where vulnerable road users are at high risk.

Children are among the most vulnerable road users. Their limited understanding of traffic dynamics and unpredictable behavior make them highly susceptible to accidents. Establishing safe school zones with low speed limits, safe pedestrian crossings, and traffic calming measures significantly reduces the risk of accidents.

Using the Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) application developed by iRAP, the ACM experts assess local school zones and provide recommendations for improvement; for now, over 18 school areas in Moldova were assessed using this methodology.

The collaboration with Ialoveni and Edinet cities’ LPA and local schools are among the most successful and impactful experiences  for 2024 on joining efforts to enhance safety for children from two educational institutions: „Petre Ștefănucă” and „Andrei Vartic” Lyceums in Ialoveni and „Mihai Eminescu” Lyceum in Edinet.

ACM team initiated the collaboration with local LPA and school management, in road safety activities and awareness campaigns to foster a safety and responsibility culture, for the society’s benefit as a whole.

The first assessed pedestrian crossing in Ialoveni at “Petre Stefanuca” Lyceum is located at the central access to the high school yard, but it is located in such a way that it conflicted with the car access area to the gate. Also, the space in front of the central access to the high school, was blocked by an improvised parking lot, which obstructed pedestrian traffic towards the pedestrian crossing and allowed sneaking between cars.

 In the area there was also installed an old speed bump, but it was in an advanced state of deterioration and, in the absence of visible indicators, it did not produce traffic calming effect, thus the lane width favored speeding, and put pedestrians at high risk. The Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) assessment of the school area indicated a satisfactory level of pedestrian safety, accumulating 3.8 points.

In this context, guided by the ACM and road safety expert, students and teachers from the educational institution, were involved in creating a more accessible school zone and a safer route to and from school, by changing the space functionality at the institution entrance, from one that was dangerous and unfriendly to vulnerable traffic participants, to a safe, accessible and full of color one.

As a result of the provided recommendations, besides the installation of 30 km/h speed zone, a raised pedestrian crossing was built and marked as a traffic calming element. At the same time, parking spaces were eliminated around the pedestrian crossing by installing plastic bollards and flower pots, thus ensuring the visibility angle for drivers.

The „Andrei Vartic” Lyceum from the same locality is situated on the main street of the town, being the most crowded and carrying intense traffic. In this context, at the request of the local authorities, both the evaluation and provision of improvement recommendations were carried out in order to reach a 5-star safety level.

At the recommendation and with the support of the ACM team, the following works were carried out:

• ·  Installation of 30 km/h speed zone.
• ·  A raised pedestrian crossing was built and accordingly marked as a traffic calming element.
• ·  The lighting of the analyzed pedestrian crossing was modernized by installing an additional streetlight at pedestrian level.
• ·  Parking places near the pedestrian crossing were eliminated by installing delimitation pillars in order to ensure the visibility angle from both traffic lanes in different directions.

In Edineț, the pedestrian crossing in the proximity of „Mihai Eminescu” Lyceum had a rating of 2.4 stars according to Star Rating for Schools. The street where the institution is located is characterized by heavy traffic with a speed limit of 50 km/h and more, situation that generates high risk for pedestrians, the crash police data showing a registered pedestrian death in 2023.

The ACM assessment identified that the marking of the pedestrian crossing was very poor and barely visible, especially in winter, the lack of separate lighting of the pedestrian crossing reduced the visibility of pedestrians engaged in crossing, also this crossing is located at an angle, and on the side of the high school area it conflicted with the right-turn radius of cars. The width of the lanes and the low population density in the area favored over speeding, especially when drivers engaged in overtaking maneuvers. Along the entire length of the street, cars traveled at speeds exceeding 50 km/h.

At the ACM’s recommendations and support the following changes were done at the location:

• ·   Installation of 30 km//h speed zone.
• ·   A raised pedestrian crossing was built for ensuring traffic speed reduction.
• ·  Redesign of the intersection area (junction of the main street with secondary one) with access to the educational institution by reducing the radius of curvature for right turns and expanding the sidewalk area.

With thousands of children traveling to and from schools daily, ensuring safe, accessible roads and well-designed school zones is not just a necessity but a moral responsibility of the relevant authorities and society as whole.

The legislative amendment on the low-speed zones implementation was a first step of the national authorities commitment to intervene in securing the roads for children. However, the essential practical changes, at  local levels require more joint efforts. In this regard, the Automobile Club of Moldova (ACM), supported by the FIA, FIA Foundation, EASST and UNICEF, provides continuous support and consultancy to local public authorities in assessing dangerous school zones and implementing measures to secure them.