The NSW government will accelerate the rollout of flashing school zone lights, with 101 new sets due to be installed by July this year. As part of this initiative new lights will be installed at Brigidine College in St Ives.
“The flashing lights program is central to ensuring the safety of our students in and around school environments,” said Jonathan O’Dea, Member for Davidson. “They’ve been proven to be effective in slowing drivers down and potentially saving young lives.”
Studies have shown drivers reduce their speed by around 7km per hour when they enter a school zone marked by flashing lights. If all goes to plan, the government will have installed 280 flashing lights this financial year – the largest number to date. Installation will cost $2.5 million from within the road
safety budget.
Sites are chosen using the School Pedestrian Risk model, which considers factors like traffic volume, approaching speed, pedestrian volume and road visibility. By July, flashing lights will be in place at 1,340 school zones across the state.
“Each school in turn will receive the school zone flashing lights and that’s done largely on the basis of an assessment of risk and need,” Mr O’Dea said.
“My understanding is there’s about 2,000 schools across NSW, so there’s a little way to go but it’s great news to see that Brigidine will see those flashing lights in the near future.”
