Celebrating our crosswalk heroes

School Crossing Guard Appreciation Week is June 5 to June 9

It’s School Crossing Guard Appreciation Week! From Monday, June 5 to Friday, June 9, the City of Vaughan is celebrating and recognizing our dedicated team of 120 crossing guards who help students, parents and guardians travel safely to and from school each day.

Throughout the week, we will feature some of Vaughan’s passionate crossing guards on social media – be sure to follow along on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn! You can also watch this video to hear from one of Vaughan’s dedicated school crossing guards and see what a day on the job is like.

The City recruits, trains and hires school crossing guards. School Crossing Guard locations are selected based on pedestrian and traffic studies, with the installation of appropriate signage and pavement markings. With 115 crosswalk locations and projected growth of the program, both permanent and standby crossing guards are always needed to service locations. Interested in becoming a school crossing guard? Visit vaughan.ca/CrossingGuard to learn more.

School zone safety is a joint priority for the City’s Transportation and Fleet Management Services, By-law and Compliance, Licensing and Permit Services and Vaughan Fire and Rescue Service departments. Together with York Regional Police, York Region, York Region District School Board and York Catholic District School Board, the City is working to ensure the safety of all community members. Visit vaughan.ca/SchoolZoneSafety for more information.

Road safety reminders

Streets and sidewalks can be busy in the morning when people are heading to school and in the afternoon when they leave. That’s why it’s important for children, parents and drivers to be alert, follow the road rules and walk safely – especially in school zones. Take extra precautions around crosswalks, pedestrian crossovers, stopped school buses and intersections. Remember, road safety is everyone’s responsibility.

Tips for drivers:

• Check weather and road conditions before leaving home or work. You may need to allow extra travel time or wait until conditions improve.
• Expect the unexpected. Children may cross the street at the wrong place, run into oncoming traffic or ride a bike in front of a vehicle without warning.
• Obey the rules of the road, including posted speed limits.

• Obey all traffic signs and signals. Stop at all stop signs and yield to pedestrians.
• Pay attention to your surroundings. Watch for, stop and yield the whole roadway to pedestrians when approaching a pedestrian crossover. Failing to do so may result in fines from York Regional Police of up to $1,000 and four demerit points.
• Leave nine metres (or 29 feet) between your vehicle and crosswalks and/or stop signs when parking. Parking too close to these objects makes it difficult to see children when crossing the road.
• Take extra time to look for children at intersections, on medians or curbs.
• Enter and exit driveways and laneways with extra caution.
• Avoid distractions within the vehicle and ensure children are secured in a correctly installed child restraint seat if required.
• Ensure children exit on the passenger side of the vehicle.
• Use extra caution when driving in hard-to-see conditions, such as nighttime or bad weather.

Tips for pedestrians:

• Be mindful of slippery conditions on sidewalks and roadways.
• Encourage children to always obey crossing signals and follow the instruction of the school crossing guards.
• Walk, don’t run, when crossing the street
• Pay attention to vehicular traffic while walking along or crossing roads, entering or exiting driveways, or backing up in parking lots.
• Obey all traffic rules and signals.
• Ensure you are visible to drivers and cyclists and make eye contact once they have stopped before crossing.
• Cross at designated crosswalks, crossovers or controlled intersections only.
• Wear reflective clothing or carry something bright during low light or dark conditions.

You can support your local school crossing guards by remembering to STOP:

• Stop when a school crossing guard raises their stop sign.
• Take notice of whether a crossing guard is on duty and slow down when approaching school crossing locations.
• Obey the law. Remain stopped until all children and the crossing guard have completely exited the roadway.
• Proceed with caution – obey posted speed limits and observe all NO Stopping and NO Parking signs – park in designated areas only.

Visit vaughan.ca/CrossingGuard for more information.

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