Evaluation of Safety Enhancements in School Zones with Familiar and Unfamiliar Drivers

Traffic crashes in suburban school zones pose a serious safety concern due to a higher presence of school-age pedestrians and cyclists as well as potential speeding issues. A study that investigated speed selection and driver behavior in school zones was carried out using two populations from different topographical and cultural settings: Puerto Rico and Massachusetts. A school zone from Puerto Rico was recreated in driver simulation scenarios, and local drivers who were familiar with the environment were used as subjects. The Puerto Rico school simulation scenarios were replicated with subjects from Massachusetts to analyze the impact of drivers’ familiarity on the school-roadway environment. Twenty-four scenarios were built with pedestrians, on-street parked vehicles, and traffic flow used as simulation variables in the experiment. Results are presented in terms of speed behavior, reaction to the presence of pedestrians, speed compliance, mean reduction in speeds, and eye tracker analysis for both familiar and unfamiliar drivers