Back to School Road Safety

• Pedestrian Crossovers: These are designated crossing areas that require people driving to stop and allow people walking or rolling to completely cross the road safely. They are often marked with specific signage, pavement markings and flashing beacons to enhance visibility and safety. 
• School Zones: These areas have additional signage to alert drivers to the presence of children.  Safety measures may include “watch your speed” signs, flashing beacons, and enhanced pavement markings to encourage safer driving and increase safety. 
• Safety at Intersections: Intersections near schools are equipped with safety features that may include pedestrian head start signals, enhanced crosswalks, and crossing guards to ensure children can cross streets safely. These measures aim to reduce conflicts between people driving, cycling, walking and rolling, providing a safer environment for schoolchildren. 
• School Bus Rules: People driving must stop for school buses with flashing red lights and an extended arm stop, ensuring that children can board and exit the bus safely. This rule is crucial to prevent collisions involving children around school buses.  

The City continues to implement several Vision Zero Road Safety Plan actions, programs and initiatives to protect students, parents, guardians and teachers on Toronto’s roadways.  

The School Crossing Guard Program: 911 school crossing guards are placed at intersections across the city to help children safely cross the street and remind people driving of the presence of children at key intersections. 

School Safety Zones: A designated stretch of roadway which includes a combination of School Safety Zone signs with flashing beacons, school zone pavement stencils, radar speed display signs, and zebra marking at all crosswalks. The City has installed 636 School Safety Zones around Toronto to date and aims to complete 55 more by the end of 2025 and anticipates all School Safety Zones to be completed by the end of 2027.

Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE): The City’s 150 ASE systems are mobile or permanent in Community Safety Zones across the City, with a significant focus on areas surrounding schools. The mobile system rotation allows for addressing a greater number of safety concerns and a wide range deterrent effect. Automated Speed Enforcement aims to increase road safety, reduce speeding and raise public awareness about the need to slow down and obey posted speed limits.

Geometric Safety Improvements: Modifications to roadway geometry are made at hundreds of locations across the City each year. Providing positive guidance to road users through road design is known to be one of the most effective ways to improve road safety. These changes include measures such as raised crosswalks and intersections, in-road flexible speed signs, cycling infrastructure installations, speed humps/cushions, curb extensions, left-turn calming, truck aprons and intersection realignments. Learn more on the City’s Geometric Safety Improvements webpage.  

Local Road Speed Limit Reductions: The City is reducing the speed limit on local roads and public lanes into 30 km/h on a systematic, ward-by-ward basis. This multi-year, data-driven effort will create a consistent 30 km/h speed limit on all local roads, to curb speeding and minimize traffic-related fatalities. The local road speed limit has been reduced in 17 wards, with work continuing in the remaining wards by the end of 2028.

Police Monitoring: The Toronto Police Service intensifies monitoring around schools, focusing on illegal parking, speeding and distracted driving to ensure a safe environment for students. This includes specific enforcement actions during the back-to-school period. 

For more information about each of the safety measures listed above, explore the City’s Safety Initiatives or Vision Zero Road Safety Plan webpages.