Siobhan Mulligan
Director of Advocacy and Education
As the days grow shorter and evenings darker, drivers face new visibility challenges during the busy after-school rush. The first weeks after daylight saving time can be especially risky, with earlier sunsets creating conditions that make it harder to see students and other pedestrians crossing the street. For parents, crossing guards, and city engineers alike, it’s a reminder that school zone safety depends on both vigilance and smart infrastructure, including connected school zone technology like flashing beacons and real-time driver alerts that keep students safer every day.
Risks for students walking to school
School zones concentrate some of the most unpredictable traffic patterns in any community. Parents double-park for drop-offs, school buses make frequent stops, and students cross mid-block to reach their friends. Even small increases in speed can have major consequences: according to the Federal Highway Administration, a pedestrian hit at 20 mph has a 90% chance of surviving the crash, but this drops to less than 50% if hit by a vehicle traveling 30 mph.
Visibility is another challenge. During fall and winter months, glare, rain, and low sun angles can make it difficult for drivers to see crossing children or faded pavement markings. Like dressing for winter, the best-performing school zones use layers, combining multiple safety measures like flashing beacons, in-car notifications, and clear signage.
How to slow traffic in school zones
The fundamentals of school zone safety still hold true:
- Flashing beacons turn on during school drop-off and pick-up times, helping drivers stay aware of reduced speed limits at specific times of day. Correct scheduling and maintenance ensures that beacons only turn on and off when they’re supposed to, increasing driver trust and improving compliance.
- Crossing guards provide visible deterrence to speeding and unsafe turns, while gaining valuable firsthand insights into driver behavior.
- Signage and pavement markings communicate school zone limits clearly, especially for unfamiliar drivers.
- Speed feedback signs display a driver’s current speed to encourage immediate compliance if speeding and deter habitual speeding.
Many cities now use smart infrastructure to coordinate these safety elements and make them easier to monitor and manage. With cloud-based controls, agencies can monitor multiple school zone beacons from a single dashboard and receive alerts if a beacon isn’t working properly, rather than relying on public complaints. Some cities and counties even connect school zone infrastructure, like flashing beacons, to in-car systems and apps like Waze or TravelSafely® to alert drivers when they enter an active school zone.
Case Study: Reducing pedestrian fatalities in Toronto
Real-world data backs up these improvements. A recent case study from Toronto showed that after the city expanded its Vision Zero Road Safety Plan, including expanding use of smart school zone flashing beacons, pedestrian fatalities dropped by 15–30% between 2019 and 2024. That success came from layering traditional tools like crossing guards with connected infrastructure, proving that combining infrastructure investments with human resources can result in significant improvements to pedestrian safety.
School Zone Safety FAQ
What is a smart school zone flashing beacon?
Smart school zone beacons connect the beacon to the cloud, allowing school districts or traffic personnel to schedule, manage, and troubleshoot beacons without going into the field. Traditionally, school zone beacons could only be monitored, maintained, and updated by driving out to the site and manually working on individual beacons, costing time and money.
How do smart school beacon systems make school zones safer?
Smart beacons’ schedules can be adjusted remotely, making scheduling before the school year easier and allowing authorized staff to make system-wide schedule changes throughout the year. This makes it easier to adjust schedules for scenarios like school holidays, half-days, and unexpected inclement weather.
Connected systems like the Glance® Smart Beacon System also allow cities to monitor all beacons remotely, track uptime, and receive alerts if a light fails, keeping school zones consistently protected. Combined, smart school beacon systems make sure beacons only flash during the school year, at the right times of day, improving driver trust and reducing speeding.
What are the benefits of connecting school zone equipment to a central platform?
Centralized platforms let traffic engineers or public works agents manage multiple beacons, signs, and sensors from one dashboard. This reduces on-site maintenance, improves reliability, and—when combined with driver speed feedback signs—provides data to evaluate driver compliance and program effectiveness over time.
How can smart school zone beacons help with speeding tickets?
Smart school zone beacons can provide additional evidence when a member of the public contests a speeding ticket, by providing an auditable record of beacon faults and schedules. If the beacon was not flashing when it should have been, or if it was flashing according to schedule when the accused claims otherwise, smart beacons provide concrete evidence that can help resolve the matter.
How can a city start improving school zone safety?
Start by auditing what you already have: check signage, markings, and beacon operation. Engage school and public safety stakeholders to identify problem spots. Then add connected tools like smart beacons or speed feedback signs to pilot improvements and gather results before expanding citywide.
Are these upgrades expensive or hard to manage for smaller cities?
Not necessarily. Many connected safety systems are modular, allowing agencies to start small and scale up. For example, adding cellular connectivity for remote scheduling can dramatically improve reliability without requiring major infrastructure changes.
How can communities support safer school zones?
Parents and residents can help by observing speed limits, reporting malfunctioning signs or lights, and advocating for school safety projects. Joining Parent-Teacher Associations or similar organizations, volunteering as a crossing guard, and similar acts of community involvement can build a voice for slowing traffic in school zones, as this mother and grandmother from Texas found. Collaboration between local governments, schools, and community members is what makes technology truly effective.
Ready to Make School Zones Safer?
Safer streets start with small, smart steps. Learn more about connected safety solutions or schedule a consultation at appinfoinc.com/contact
