The Use of ‘Your Speed’ Changeable Message Signs in School Zones –Experience from the North Carolina Safe Routes to School Program

摘要

The Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program seeks to enable children to walk and bicycle toschool through a variety of tools. One such tool recently implemented through the NorthCarolina Department of Transportation’s (NCDOT) program is the use of speed feedback signs(Your Speed signs) to reduce vehicle speeds in school zones. NCDOT has no policy or standardfor the use of these signs within school zones, and research illustrating the value of usingpermanently installed Your Speed signs in school zones is sparse. The Eastern Carolina InjuryPrevention Program (ECIPP) applied for SRTS funding to install these signs as part of theireducation, encouragement, and enforcement project. NCDOT therefore initiated a study on theuse of these signs in conjunction with ECIPP's larger SRTS project. Significant findings of thisstudy include a 3.0 (p < 0.0001) to 4.5 mph (p < 0.0001) reduction in speed sustained over a 12-month post installation period, suggesting that responses to Your Speed signs may not diminishas drivers become accustomed to their presence. Based on these promising results, NCDOT isconsidering additional research needs to fully inform policy considerations for the future use ofthese signs. This research may be useful for organizations seeking innovative SRTS programtools to improve speed compliance in school zones, for those contemplating the use of speedfeedback signs in school zones who need information on their effectiveness, and for thoseinterested in a different way to evaluate their own SRTS projects.