Evaluation of road safety level in school areas: the case of the city of Thessaloniki, Greece

摘要

The pupils' trips to and from school, have been investigated thoroughly by many researchers all over the world due to the safety risk imposed to the students by the vehicular traffic. All proposals that have been made by the researchers have aimed at the improvement of the walking environment in terms of safety, accessibility, security etc. The overall target is to reduce traffic flows and speed near school areas and to further improve the environment. This paper attempts to evaluate the service facilities provided near elementary school areas in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece. In the framework of this research, a survey was carried out in various areas of the city. Each survey area has different land use and transport system characteristics. The examination of the road safety level near schools was based on the use of two tools: the Pedestrian Quality Inspection which is one of the developments of COST 358: Pedestrians' Quality Needs and the Dover, Kohl & Partners, Town Planning, and Chael, Cooper & Associates P.A. Architecture, Design Guidelines for Pedestrian-Friendly Neighborhood Schools. The survey provides information on pupils' trips from home to school and also on the characteristics of the current walking infrastructure near school areas in order to evaluate the road safety level and to propose measures so that walking from home to school becomes friendlier, safer, and more accessible for the pupils.