Stay Alert, Stay Safe with Back-to-School Road Safety Tips

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August 30 2024 –

With school back in session next week, the City is reminding drivers to be careful and look out for kids and other pedestrians walking to and from school. 
 
“Safety on our streets is a shared responsibility,” said Mayor Ken Sim. “With evenings getting darker earlier and kids heading back to school, let’s do our part to keep them safe. Whether it’s slowing down in school zones, being extra mindful at crosswalks, or just looking out for each other – every little action counts to keep our streets safer for everyone.” 
 
The City has a number of safety-focused programs to help support pedestrians and students throughout the school year:  

School Slow Zones 
To enhance safety for elementary students and encourage drivers to slow down around schools, School Slow Zones reduce vehicle speed limits to 40 km/h on arterial streets and 30 km/h on collector streets between 8 am and 5 pm on school days. Custom signs and road markings will be installed in early fall in 10 school zones covering 16 schools. 

City crews are also installing a new concrete barrier median by Lord Byng Secondary at Wallace St and West 16th Ave to improve pedestrian visibility, reduce the crossing distance, and reduce turning conflicts. The changes are planned to be in place by the first few weeks of school.  

Walking School Bus 
Designed to reduce congestion near schools, the Walking School Bus program is back for a fourth year. A Walking School Bus is a group of students who travel to and from school each day along a designated route, stopping along the way to pick up more students. Adult walk leaders accompany each group.  

School Streets 
The School Streets program keeps a block beside a school open for walking, biking, and rolling during designated hours on school days. During that time, motor vehicles are not permitted to drive along the block. School Streets are currently found at Lord Selkirk and General Gordon Elementary Schools. 

Walk Bike Roll Mini-Grant 
The City offers $500 Walk Bike Roll mini-grants to elementary and secondary schools to encourage and promote students safely walking, cycling or rolling to school. Applications open at the end of September.  

Pedestrian safety near schools  

To help ensure areas around schools are a safe place to walk, bike and roll, drivers are reminded to: 

  • Budget extra time to safely travel during your commute. 
  • Follow all posted signs and adhere to 30 km/h and 40 km/h school slow zones. 
  • Respect the school’s pick up and drop off designated areas and adhere to all no stopping signage. 
  • Consider parking several blocks away and walking children to the school.  
  • Yield to pedestrians at intersections and remain stopped until pedestrians reach the other side of the curb. 
  • Respect all safety patrols around schools in Vancouver. 
  • Leave at least one metre of space  when passing pedestrians, cyclists, and people using e-mobility devices. 

Plan ahead for traffic impacts of major construction work 

Road work and construction continues throughout Vancouver during the back-to-school season with necessary upgrades to roads, sewers and water mains that will impact city streets. Here are some projects with significant traffic impacts underway this fall:

  • Granville Connector – Construction continues at the north end of the bridge, with traffic detoured to the Howe and Seymour ramps. The Granville Bridge main span is expected to reopen in the middle of September. Work is expected to continue through fall 2024. 
  • West Pender Street water upgrades – Work continues along West Pender Street, where rolling intersection closures and reduced traffic flow will continue between Burrard Street and Bute Street until late 2024. 
  • Oak Street sewer separation –  Sewer upgrades have progressed to Oak Street between West 70th Avenue and West 64th Avenue, with traffic impacts until spring 2025. Two lanes will be retained each way during the day, switching to two lanes NB and one lane SB overnight (between 8 pm and 5 am). 
  • Terminal Avenue emergency sewer main repairs – Ongoing lane reductions remain in place in the area of Main St, Terminal Ave, and Quebec St until further notice.  
  • West 41st Avenue fires and crane collapse – The crane has been removed, and repairs to the roads, sidewalks, bus landing areas, curbs, and gutters are underway. Repairs to continue into September with W 41st Ave expected to reopen by the end of the first week of September.  
  • Broadway Subway  –  Station construction continues at Great Northern Way and five more locations along Broadway between Main and Arbutus, with some traffic pattern changes. 

To keep ahead of other traffic impacts happening across the city, visit vancouver.ca/roadahead for the latest updates on road closures and construction projects.  

Resources 

Drivers travelling in and around school zones or construction areas should plan ahead and expect delays.    

  • Use these safety tips  (680 KB) when driving around school zones 
  • Take transit 
  • Follow all detours and abide by no parking signs in the area.   
  • Be considerate of local traffic and avoid short-cutting through residential streets that are not designed for high volumes of traffic. 
  • Allow for extra time to get to where you need to go and stay ahead of road closures.  
  • Follow #VanTraffic or use our traffic cameras to check traffic conditions along your commute.

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