U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

www.cops.usdoj.gov

T r a f f i c 

C o n g e s t i o n 

A r o u n d S c h o o l s

by

Nancy G. La Vigne

Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 

Problem-Specific Guides Series

No. 50
www.PopCenter.org

Got a Problem? We’ve got answers!

Log onto the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing web site at 

www.popcenter.org for a wealth of information to help you deal 

more effectively with crime and disorder in your community, 

including:

• Web-enhanced versions of all currently available Guides

• Interactive training exercises

• Online access to research and police practices

• Online problem analysis module.

Designed for police and those who work with them to address 

community problems, www.popcenter.org is a great resource in 

problem-oriented policing.

Supported by the Office of Community Oriented Policing 

Services, U.S. Department of Justice.

Center for Problem-Oriented Policing
Traffic Congestion 

Around Schools

Nancy G. La Vigne

This project was supported by cooperative agreement 

#2005CKWXK001 by the Office of Community Oriented 

Policing Services, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions 

contained herein are those of the author(s) and do not 

necessarily represent the Justice Department’s official position. 

References to specific companies, products, or services 

should not be considered an endorsement by the author(s) 

or the Justice Department. Rather, the references are used to 

supplement discussion of the issues. 

www.cops.usdoj.gov

ISBN: 1-932582-82-7 

August 2007

Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 

Problem-Specific Guides Series

Guide No. 50

About the Problem-Specific Guides Series i

About the Problem-Specific Guides Series

The Problem-Specific Guides summarize knowledge about 

how police can reduce the harm caused by specific crime 

and disorder problems. They are guides to prevention 

and to improving the overall response to incidents, not to 

investigating offenses or handling specific incidents. Neither do 

they cover all of the technical details about how to implement 

specific responses. The guides are written for police—of 

whatever rank or assignment—who must address the specific 

problem the guides cover. The guides will be most useful to 

officers who:

• Understand basic problem-oriented policing principles 

and methods. The guides are not primers in problemoriented policing. They deal only briefly with the initial 

decision to focus on a particular problem, methods to 

analyze the problem, and means to assess the results of a 

problem-oriented policing project. They are designed to help 

police decide how best to analyze and address a problem 

they have already identified. (A companion series of ProblemSolving Tools guides has been produced to aid in various 

aspects of problem analysis and assessment.)

• Can look at a problem in depth. Depending on the 

complexity of the problem, you should be prepared to spend 

perhaps weeks, or even months, analyzing and responding 

to it. Carefully studying a problem before responding helps 

you design the right strategy, one that is most likely to 

work in your community. You should not blindly adopt the 

responses others have used; you must decide whether they 

are appropriate to your local situation. What is true in one 

place may not be true elsewhere; what works in one place 

may not work everywhere.
ii Traffic Congestion Around Schools

• Are willing to consider new ways of doing police 

business. The guides describe responses that other police 

departments have used or that researchers have tested. 

While not all of these responses will be appropriate to your 

particular problem, they should help give a broader view of 

the kinds of things you could do. You may think you cannot 

implement some of these responses in your jurisdiction, 

but perhaps you can. In many places, when police have 

discovered a more effective response, they have succeeded 

in having laws and policies changed, improving the response 

to the problem. (A companion series of Response Guides has 

been produced to help you understand how commonly-used 

police responses work on a variety of problems.) 

• Understand the value and the limits of research 

knowledge. For some types of problems, a lot of useful 

research is available to the police; for other problems, 

little is available. Accordingly, some guides in this series 

summarize existing research whereas other guides illustrate 

the need for more research on that particular problem. 

Regardless, research has not provided definitive answers to 

all the questions you might have about the problem. The 

research may help get you started in designing your own 

responses, but it cannot tell you exactly what to do. This 

will depend greatly on the particular nature of your local 

problem. In the interest of keeping the guides readable, 

not every piece of relevant research has been cited, nor has 

every point been attributed to its sources. To have done so 

would have overwhelmed and distracted the reader. The 

references listed at the end of each guide are those drawn 

on most heavily; they are not a complete bibliography of 

research on the subject. 

• Are willing to work with others to find effective 

solutions to the problem. The police alone cannot 

implement many of the responses discussed in the guides. 

ii Traffic Congestion Around Schools
About the Problem-Specific Guides Series iii

They must frequently implement them in partnership with 

other responsible private and public bodies including other 

government agencies, non-governmental organizations, 

private businesses, public utilities, community groups, 

and individual citizens. An effective problem-solver must 

know how to forge genuine partnerships with others 

and be prepared to invest considerable effort in making 

these partnerships work. Each guide identifies particular 

individuals or groups in the community with whom 

police might work to improve the overall response to that 

problem. Thorough analysis of problems often reveals 

that individuals and groups other than the police are in 

a stronger position to address problems and that police 

ought to shift some greater responsibility to them to do 

so. Response Guide No. 3, Shifting and Sharing Responsibility 

for Public Safety Problems, provides further discussion of this 

topic.

The COPS Office defines community policing as “a policing 

philosophy that promotes and supports organizational 

strategies to address the causes and reduce the fear of crime 

and social disorder through problem-solving tactics and 

police-community partnerships.” These guides emphasize 

problem-solving and police-community partnerships in the 

context of addressing specific public safety problems. For 

the most part, the organizational strategies that can facilitate 

problem-solving and police-community partnerships vary considerably 

and discussion of them is beyond the scope of these guides.

These guides have drawn on research findings and police 

practices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, 

Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia. 

Even though laws, customs and police practices vary from 

country to country, it is apparent that the police everywhere 

experience common problems. In a world that is becoming 
iv Traffic Congestion Around Schools

increasingly interconnected, it is important that police be 

aware of research and successful practices beyond the borders 

of their own countries.

Each guide is informed by a thorough review of the research 

literature and reported police practice and is anonymously 

peer-reviewed by line police officers, police executives and 

researchers prior to publication. 

The COPS Office and the authors encourage you to provide 

feedback on this guide and to report on your own agency’s 

experiences dealing with a similar problem. Your agency 

may have effectively addressed a problem using responses 

not considered in these guides and your experiences and 

knowledge could benefit others. This information will be used 

to update the guides. If you wish to provide feedback and 

share your experiences it should be sent via e-mail to cops_

pubs@usdoj.gov.

For more information about problem-oriented policing, visit 

the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing online at www.

popcenter.org. This web site offers free online access to:

• the Problem-Specific Guides series

• the companion Response Guides and Problem-Solving Tools series

• instructional information about problem-oriented policing 

and related topics

• an interactive problem-oriented policing training exercise

• an interactive Problem Analysis Module

• a manual for crime analysts

• online access to important police research and practices

• information about problem-oriented policing conferences 

and award programs. 
Acknowledgments v

Acknowledgments

The Problem-Oriented Guides for Police are produced by the 

Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, whose officers are 

Michael S. Scott (Director), Ronald V. Clarke (Associate 

Director) and Graeme R. Newman (Associate Director). 

While each guide has a primary author, other project team 

members, COPS Office staff and anonymous peer reviewers 

contributed to each guide by proposing text, recommending 

research and offering suggestions on matters of format and 

style. 

The project team that developed the guide series comprised 

Herman Goldstein (University of Wisconsin Law School), 

Ronald V. Clarke (Rutgers University), John E. Eck (University 

of Cincinnati), Michael S. Scott (University of Wisconsin Law 

School), Rana Sampson (Police Consultant), and Deborah 

Lamm Weisel (North Carolina State University.) 

Members of the San Diego; National City, California; and 

Savannah, Georgia police departments provided feedback on 

the guides’ format and style in the early stages of the project.

Cynthia E. Pappas oversaw the project for the COPS Office 

and research for the guides was conducted at the Criminal 

Justice Library at Rutgers University by Phyllis Schultze. 

Suzanne Fregly edited this guide.

contents

Contents vii

About the Problem-Specific Guides Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

The Problem of Traffic Congestion Around Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

What This Guide Does and Does Not Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

General Description of the Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Factors Contributing to Traffic Congestion Around Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 

Population Trends and Changes in Transportation Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Physical Design Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

New Schools, Residential Divisions, and Changes in 

 School Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Understanding Your Local Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Stakeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Police . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Parents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

School Administrators and Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Local Residents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Other Commuters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Transportation and Planning Department . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

School Bus Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) and School Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

School Building Architects and Landscapers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Neighboring Businesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Asking the Right Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Incidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

School System Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Driving Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Current Responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Measuring Your Effectiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Responses to the Problem of Traffic Congestion Around Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

General Considerations for an Effective Response Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Specific Responses to Traffic Congestion Around Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Changing Transportation Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Implementing Drop-Off, Pick-Up, and Physical Design Measures . . . . . . 30

Responses With Limited Effectiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Appendix: Summary of Responses to Traffic Congestion Around Schools . . . . . . . . . . . 35 

Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Recommended Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Other Problem-Oriented Guides for Police . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

viii Traffic Congestion Around Schools
The Problem of Traffic Congestion Around Schools 1

The Problem of Traffic Congestion 

Around Schools

What This Guide Does and Does Not Cover

This guide begins by describing the problem and reviewing 

the factors that increase the risks of school traffic congestion. 

It then identifies a series of questions to help you analyze 

your local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the 

problem, and what is known about them from evaluative 

research and local practice.

For the purposes of this guide, school-related traffic 

congestion is defined as the overcrowding and blocking of 

streets on or near school property that is typically associated 

with car transportation of children to and from school. While 

routes to and from school are examined in the context of this 

problem, most of this guide is devoted to problems occurring 

in the immediate vicinity of the schools that generate trafficrelated problems. A thorough review of the research indicates 

that the vast majority of problems pertaining to school traffic 

congestion occur in middle and elementary schools. This 

guide therefore focuses primarily on causes of and ways to 

prevent traffic around these subsets of schools, although 

most responses could apply to a wide range of educational 

institutions.
2 Traffic Congestion Around Schools

School traffic congestion is but one aspect of a larger set 

of problems related to school traffic. This guide is limited 

to addressing the particular harms school traffic congestion 

creates. Related problems not directly addressed in this 

guide, each of which requires separate analysis, include the 

following:

Speeding in residential areas. Sometimes school congestion 

creates speeding in the larger vicinity, as frustrated parents 

and commuters try to make up for lost time associated 

with the congestion.

Reckless driving, speeding, and traffic violations 

associated with high school students’ driving themselves 

to and from school. 

Cruising.

Street racing.

Loud car stereos.

Some of these related problems are covered in other guides in 

this series, all of which are listed at the end of this guide. For 

the most up-to-date listing of current and future guides, see 

www.popcenter.org.

Finally, it is important to emphasize that this guide assumes 

that you are interested in solving a school traffic problem 

that already exists. As with many crime, disorder, and public 

nuisance problems, the best way to prevent school traffic 

congestion is to “design it out” during the school siteplanning stage. While the issue of new school construction is 

beyond this guide’s scope, several resources offer guidance on 

the best way to design parking, drop-off, and pick-up areas, 

and procedures to ensure children’s safe and speedy transport 

to and from new schools in the planning stages.1

•

•

•

•

•
The Problem of Traffic Congestion Around Schools 3

General Description of the Problem

School-related traffic congestion and the risks such congestion 

poses to the safety of the students, teachers, parents, 

residents, and motorists in and around school locations is 

a significant problem in communities both throughout the 

United States and abroad. The most obvious cause of traffic 

congestion around schools is vehicles, and the biggest source 

of those vehicles is parents’ dropping off and picking up their 

children from school. In the United States, roughly threequarters of school-aged children are taken to school by car.2 

In the United Kingdom, the share of children taken to school 

by car is estimated to be between one-third3 and one-half.4 In 

both countries, the rate of increase in car transportation of 

children to school has been significant, often creating serious 

traffic congestion problems.5 As described below, an increase 

in children taken to school by car is just one contributing 

factor to the problem. Other factors include changes in 

school purposes and populations, new school construction, 

the addition or elimination of busing, and the overall physical 

infrastructure, street layout, and traffic signs and signals 

surrounding a school.

Traffic congestion alone causes inconvenience to drivers, leads 

to lost time from the job, and can contribute to “road rage.” 

In addition to affecting parent drivers and other commuters, 

school traffic congestion is a source of problems for students, 

school staff, residents in and around schools, and local 

police charged with enforcing traffic laws and responding to 

problems raised by residents and schools. More importantly, 

congestion can be a source of traffic crashes and child 

pedestrian injuries and deaths.6 Child pedestrian injuries due 

to traffic are more likely to occur in settings with high traffic 

volume and on-street parking, with children’s often emerging 

“masked” from behind parked cars.7
4 Traffic Congestion Around Schools

Factors Contributing to Traffic Congestion

Around Schools

Understanding the factors that contribute to your problem 

will help you frame your own local analysis questions, 

determine effective measures, recognize key intervention 

points, and select appropriate responses to the problem of 

school traffic congestion. The following factors contribute to 

school traffic congestion.

Population Trends and Changes in Transportation Modes

While many factors contribute to the problem of school traffic 

congestion, according to experts, the single greatest explanation 

for recent school traffic congestion is the growth of the 

school-aged population over a relatively short time, combined 

with urban sprawl.8 Both factors have led to an unanticipated 

volume of students’ being taken to school by car, rendering 

original school drop-off and pick-up schemes (including 

guidelines for when and where parents may drop off, pick up, 

and park), street layouts, and traffic control measures ineffective 

in controlling congestion. A related factor is the growth in car 

ownership and use, which has been associated with a decline 

in parents’ willingness for children to walk or bike to and from 

school independently.9 Indeed, far fewer children are walking 

or biking to school, with official statistics’ showing a 40 percent 

decrease in school-aged children walking or biking between 

1977 and 1995.10 This may be explained by changes in the 

workforce, with more working mothers’ taking their children to 

school by car on their way to work.11

When asked, parents who choose to take their children by car 

cite distance, traffic hazards, time constraints, and bad weather 

as the most common reasons for selecting this transportation 

mode.12 Other research has asserted that both road safety and 
The Problem of Traffic Congestion Around Schools 5

“stranger danger” are the key explanations for why parents 

are increasingly taking their children to school by car.13 One 

can view such threats to child safety as both a cause and a 

symptom of school congestion. On the one hand, parental 

concerns about traffic hazards could lead more parents to 

drive their children to school, thereby increasing congestion. 

On the other hand, traffic congestion could lead to more 

child pedestrian accidents, with backed up cars’ blocking the 

views of small children crossing the street to enter school. 

High school student drivers may also contribute to traffic 

congestion problems around schools, particularly because 

they are inexperienced drivers who often disregard traffic 

and parking signs.14 However, this source of the problem 

is easily addressed by requiring students to get parking 

permits or to park in remote lots, or to prohibit students 

from driving to school altogether.15 Perhaps for this reason, 

the literature on this topic rarely attributes traffic congestion 

to student drivers. (Related problems, such as vandalism, 

litter, and disorder around high school parking lots, are quite 

common16 but are not addressed in this guide). Nonetheless, 

most of the effective responses in this guide apply in the 

high school context.

In some jurisdictions, reduced budgets have led to the 

elimination of busing systems, thereby increasing the use 

of cars and the congestion they create. In other school 

districts, busing has increased to promote more racially and 

socioeconomically balanced student bodies. In some cases, 

however, busing can contribute to congestion problems, such 

as when buses share the same drop-off and pick-up lanes 

as parents’ vehicles. Even in districts that provide busing 

with adequate space and effective loading and unloading 

arrangements, some parents may prefer to drive their children 

to school, thereby exacerbating traffic congestion. 
6 Traffic Congestion Around Schools

Physical Design Issues

As described above, the use of cars as a major means of 

transportation of children to and from school is inextricably 

linked to the design of the area surrounding the school. 

Narrow streets or those that allow parking on both sides are 

unlikely to provide ample room for cars to maneuver. Areas 

that are “landlocked” by cul-de-sacs may offer few alternative 

routes into and out of the area surrounding the school, and 

streets that become one-way during peak school arrival and 

departure times may create confusion rather than resolving 

congestion issues.

Poorly timed traffic lights, entry and exit routes designed 

without consideration of overall commuting patterns, and 

a lack of temporary parking spaces may also be sources of 

congestion problems. In addition, congestion may be caused 

by too many children’s being dropped off or picked up at the 

same time. Furthermore, the absence of pedestrian and bike 

pathways and crosswalks and the presence of cars parked 

along the major thoroughfares leading to and from the school 

can increase the harm traffic congestion causes by blocking 

the children’s visibility.

New Schools, Residential Subdivisions, and Changes in 

School Assignment

If not well planned, building a new school in an area may 

result in traffic congestion. New schools may be constructed 

to anticipate the growth associated with new home 

construction, but there may be no adequate plan for the 

traffic the school generates. Indeed, even new developments 

designed to be pedestrian-friendly with walkways through 

the neighborhood have encountered congestion problems 

around schools, due to parental concerns about child safety.17 
The Problem of Traffic Congestion Around Schools 7

Conversely, the construction of a new residential subdivision 

may lead the school system to change the school assignment 

process. Such changes can alter the school composition, with 

younger students’ generating more parent drop-offs and pickups, and students’ arriving from more remote destinations 

leading to an increase in congestion caused by the addition 

of school buses. Similarly, increases in the school population 

caused by changing demographics may lead to the use of 

temporary “relocatables”—trailer classrooms that by necessity 

are placed in parking areas that would have otherwise served 

to decrease congestion. These are just a few examples of how 

school traffic congestion problems can be caused by the everchanging size, capacity, and population of schools and how, 

like squeezing a water balloon, changes in one or two schools 

in a school system can affect traffic congestion around others. 

Understanding Your Local Problem 9

Understanding Your Local Problem

The information provided above is only a generalized 

description of school traffic congestion. You should use these 

basic facts to help develop a more specific understanding of 

your local problem. Analyzing the local problem carefully will 

help you design a more effective response strategy.

Stakeholders

The following groups have an interest in the school trafficcongestion problem and should be considered for the 

contribution they might make to gathering information about 

the problem and responding to it.

Police

This guide is written for police, not because they are the 

biggest stakeholders in solving traffic congestion problems, 

but because they are often one of the first to be called 

when traffic congestion develops around schools. Police 

are more likely to be contacted only after tensions have 

developed among residents, school staff, and parents over 

who is responsible for the congestion. Police therefore are 

in a unique position to serve as mediator between these 

groups, helping them to seek common ground in developing 

and implementing effective solutions and ultimately making 

their jobs easier by reducing the number of calls for service 

generated by congestion, and the traffic violations and traffic 

safety issues that often accompany it.
10 Traffic Congestion Around Schools

Parents

When it comes to both understanding the underlying source 

of the congestion problem and developing responses to it, 

parents may be the single most important stakeholder you 

identify. This is because parents’ decisions to drive their 

children to school, their concern for their children’s safety, 

and their regard for existing traffic rules can tremendously 

affect the problem. 

Students

While research indicates that most school traffic problems 

occur around elementary and middle schools, in cases where 

congestion is around high schools, students are significant 

stakeholders given that their driving and parking habits are 

likely contributing to the problem. Student input in lowergrade schools is equally important, and can become critical if 

a response strategy includes encouraging children to walk or 

bike to school.

School Administrators and Teachers

School staff often experience the aggravation of school 

traffic congestion in equal measure to parents. Some 

staff may be inconvenienced by congestion in their own 

commutes to and from the school. Others, such as the 

principal and school administrators, bear the brunt of 

complaints by parents and local residents. Given that most 

congestion occurs in and around school property, the child 

safety concerns associated with traffic congestion become 

the school’s responsibility, as well.
Understanding Your Local Problem 11

Local Residents

Residents living near schools with congestion problems 

are very much affected by the problem, and may also be 

contributing to it. Imagine being late for work and pulling 

out of your driveway, only to realize that school traffic is 

at its peak and it will take another 10 minutes just to travel 

a tenth of a mile. Residents may become so frustrated by 

repeated complaints to the school or local police with no 

sign of resolution in sight, that they deliberately ignore signs 

prohibiting street parking or making streets one-way during 

drop-off and pick-up times, further contributing to the 

congestion problem.

Other Commuters

In some areas, school traffic congestion is caused or 

exacerbated by commuters whose routes take them past the 

school or those who use residential roads around schools as 

shortcuts to reduce travel time, despite the congestion they 

may encounter around schools. 

Transportation and Planning Department

Your local transportation and planning department is also a 

critical partner in understanding and addressing the problem 

of school traffic congestion. This agency can change or add 

traffic signs, create one-way streets, and change the trafficlight timing to increase traffic flow and reduce congestion 

around the school.
12 Traffic Congestion Around Schools

School Bus Companies

In cases in which congestion occurs around schools that 

have busing, the bus companies are an important partner in 

developing responses to the problem. For example, if buses 

are perceived as contributing to the congestion problem, the 

school may determine that the best approach is to stagger bus 

drop-off and pick-up times and/or schedule those times so 

that they do not coincide with parental drop-off and pick-up 

times. 

Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) and 

School Boards

Formal entities such as PTAs can conduct surveys of their 

membership to better understand the nature of the problem, 

to enlist their participation and support in developing and 

implementing responses, and to aid in administering surveys 

designed to assess the response’s impact. 

School Building Architects and Landscapers

School architects and landscapers may need to be enlisted 

to better understand possible and feasible changes to 

school property, as well as to aid in drafting plans to reduce 

congestion. In addition, while most of the literature on 

school traffic congestion pertains to schools already existing 

when a traffic problem emerges, it is important to note that 

school architects can play a critical role in designing out traffic 

problems before new schools are erected.
Understanding Your Local Problem 13

Neighboring Businesses

In some cases, schools are located near retailers or businesses 

that generate their own traffic or that suffer from schoolgenerated traffic. These businesses represent another 

important stakeholder group in understanding and addressing 

the traffic congestion problem.

Asking the Right Questions

The following are some critical questions you should ask in 

analyzing your particular problem of school traffic congestion, 

even if the answers are not always readily available. Your 

answers to these and other questions will help you choose the 

most appropriate set of responses later on. 

Incidents

Incident data will enable you to measure the level and type 

of traffic congestion problem occurring around the school(s) 

affected by congestion. To answer these questions, it is 

useful first to learn whether the school system and/or police 

department has a mechanism for recording traffic congestion 

complaints. In some cases, police calls-for-service data may 

provide the necessary details to extract this information. In 

the case of school-generated data, however, the school system 

is likely to document only traffic safety issues, such as crashes 

involving the injury or death of a child. It is likely, therefore, 

that the police officer assigned to the school (or the patrol 

area in which the school is located) is the best source of 

incident data. The questions to ask to obtain incident data 

include the following:

How many complaints does the school receive about traffic 

congestion?

How many complaints do the police receive about traffic 

congestion?

Who is making the complaints—residents, school staff, 

parents, or all of the above?

How many vehicular crashes have occurred around the 

school?

How many pedestrian injuries and deaths have occurred 

around the school?

•

•

•

•

•

Asking the Right Questions 15
How many traffic violations have occurred around the 

school? What types of violations are occurring?

To what degree is the traffic congestion caused by 

parent drivers, and to what degree by non-parent drivers, 

including bus drivers, commuters, and residents? Why 

are each of these drivers in the area, and what are their 

motivations for driving?

To what degree do pedestrians contribute to traffic 

congestion?

Setting

What are the main access points to and from the school 

(main drive, pedestrian entrances, side streets, etc.)?

Where are the existing drop-off and pick-up areas?

Are there alternate drop-off and pick-up sites that could 

be used?

Where are the crosswalks and associated limit lines?

What speed zones exist in and around the school? Do 

they appear to affect traffic flow?

Where are no-parking zones, bus-parking areas, busloading/unloading zones, and student drop-off and pickup areas located?

Does the neighborhood have features that draw traffic 

into the area at school drop-off and pick-up times? For 

example, are there area retailers or businesses whose 

customers and/or employees contribute to the problem?

How many parking spaces are located on and around 

school property?

What is the average time it takes to drop off or pick up a 

child during peak congestion hours (including wait time 

and time entering/exiting car)?

•

•

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•

•

•

•

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•

•

•

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16 Traffic Congestion Around Schools
How far is traffic backed up entering and exiting school at 

the busiest times (minimum, maximum, average)?

What is the maximum number of students who could 

walk to school (distance is less than one-half mile or other 

standard by student age)? Do the children who walk to 

school live closer to the school than those who don’t?

A useful means to assist in answering these questions about 

setting is to conduct field observations at and around the 

school at different times of day and days of week to find 

out where most traffic is coming from, where people park, 

and where pedestrian pathways and flows are located.

§

Such observations may also reveal whether any nonschool 

commuter traffic cutting through the school area is 

contributing to the problem.

Times

At what times of day is congestion at its worst? What days 

of the week? What times of the year? 

Do peak congestion hours correspond with other events?

Are incidents clustered in time, or spread over time?

Is congestion seasonal, with most problems’ occurring 

during cold winter months, and no problems’ occurring 

during summer recess?

•

•

•

•

•

•

Asking the Right Questions 17

§ You can find a useful resource to 

guide such field observations in a 

document produced by the National 

Highway Safety Transportation 

Board that provides advice to those 

conducting pedestrian and bicycle 

crash analyses. See www.nhtsa.dot.

gov/people/injury/pedbimot/ped/

pbcatjan01/index.html. 
School System Context

In most growing school systems, school assignment is 

reevaluated each year. As a result, even if your particular 

problem is congestion around an individual school, the 

problem must be considered in light of the larger school 

system context. This includes identifying and anticipating any 

significant changes, including the following:

Have there been, or are there plans for, changes in school 

assignment at both the school of interest and neighboring 

schools?

Are there plans for residential and commercial 

development in the surrounding area?

Are there anticipated changes in traffic patterns and 

physical infrastructure around the school?

Does the school have plans to add relocatable classrooms, 

and if so, where will they be located? 

These questions underscore the importance of understanding 

that any efforts to address school congestion problems 

must be considered in light of the larger system, and that 

congestion issues and your responses’ effectiveness must be 

reassessed and may need to be amended each year.

Driving Habits

When studying the issue in your local jurisdiction, it may be 

useful to conduct a survey of parents to learn how often they 

drive their children to school, their openness to other forms 

of transportation, and their perceptions of the incidence and 

severity of the congestion problem. In analyzing the problem, 

a survey of parents can shed light on why they take their 

children by car, including the following response categories:

•

•

•

•

18 Traffic Congestion Around Schools
It is quicker/more convenient.

It is on the way to/from work.

There is no other transportation.

The weather is bad.

It is too far to walk.

My children are too young to go to school alone.

I drop off/pick up other kids.

I have concerns about child safety and “stranger danger.”

If the chosen response to the problem is to reduce parental 

driving, such a survey can help in developing a response that 

speaks to parents’ motivations and concerns. Conducting 

a similar survey after implementing your response will also 

assist in your assessment of whether the response was 

effective (see “Measuring Your Effectiveness” below).

Other important questions to pose to parent drivers include 

the following:

How often do you drive your children to school? Daily? 

Special occasions only?

What alternative modes of transportation are available?

Why do you choose particular routes and pick-up and 

drop-off points?

A “windshield survey” posing similar questions to parents and 

other commuters stuck in congestion around schools may also 

be fruitful.

•

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Asking the Right Questions 19
20 Traffic Congestion Around Schools

Current Responses

What are the current practices in place to control traffic 

congestion? What are the existing guidelines for student 

drop-off and pick-up? 

What are the current street signs in and around the school? 

It is important to note the locations of all stop signs, traffic 

lights, speed limit signs, and directional signs (one-way or 

street closure signs), as well as any associated hours of 

operation (e.g., “No entry between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.”).§

Is there a crossing guard on duty, and if so, at what times 

of day? 

What are the existing police patrol patterns? Are 

patrols assigned to coordinate with school arrivals and 

departures? Does the school have a police resource 

officer assigned to it?

What responses have worked in the past, and for how 

long? What past responses have yielded limited or no 

effectiveness?

Once you have gathered information on street patterns, 

traffic flows, and signs, a useful means of integrating all this 

information in a way that leads to potential solutions is to 

map the locations of these factors, either by hand or through 

the use of Geographic Information System software. Such 

mapping can be useful to understand the flows and nature of 

congestion within the larger context of the surrounding area. 

At this point in the process, you should begin to develop a 

list of possible responses designed to address the underlying 

cause of your school traffic problem. It is often useful to 

survey parents, teachers, staff, and even students to obtain 

their feedback on which of the proposed interventions they 

•

•

•

•

•

§

 For guidelines on appropriate 

signs, see the Federal Highway 

Administration’s Manual on Uniform 

Traffic Control Devices at http://

mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov.
like best. While the popularity of the response should not 

be the only criterion for its selection, if you have identified 

an array of equally effective responses, it is only logical to 

implement the one that most people will support, particularly 

because their compliance is critical to the intervention’s 

success. Such a survey not only serves to narrow down the 

list of possible interventions, but also will help to justify the 

response ultimately implemented.

Asking the Right Questions 21

Measuring Your Effectiveness

Measurement allows you to determine to what degree your 

efforts have succeeded, and suggests how you might modify 

your responses if they are not producing the intended results. 

You should take measures of your problem before you 

implement responses, to determine how serious the problem 

is, and after you implement them, to determine whether they 

have been effective. You should take all measures in both 

the target area and the surrounding area. (For more detailed 

guidance on measuring effectiveness, see the companion guide 

to this series, Assessing Responses to Problems: An Introductory 

Guide for Police Problem-Solvers.) 

The following are potentially useful measures of the 

effectiveness of responses to school traffic congestion:

fewer vehicles around the school

reduced time spent by parents’ dropping off and picking 

up children

fewer complaints received by the school about traffic 

congestion

fewer complaints received by the police about traffic 

congestion

fewer vehicular crashes around the school

fewer pedestrian injuries and deaths around the school

fewer traffic violations around the school

lower percentage of parents’ using cars to take children to 

school

improved perceptions of congestion among parents and staff.

•

•

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•

•

•

•

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Measuring Your Effectiveness 23

Responses to the Problem of Traffic 

Congestion Around Schools

General Considerations for an Effective Response Strategy

Your analysis of your local problem should give you a better 

understanding of the factors contributing to it. Once you have 

analyzed your local problem and established a baseline for 

measuring effectiveness, you should consider possible responses to 

address the problem. 

The following response strategies provide a foundation of ideas 

for addressing your particular problem. These strategies are drawn 

from a variety of research studies and police reports. Several of 

these strategies may apply to your community’s problem. It is critical 

that you tailor responses to local circumstances, and that you can 

justify each response based on reliable analysis. In most cases, 

an effective strategy will involve implementing several different 

responses. Law enforcement responses alone are seldom effective 

in reducing or solving the problem. Do not limit yourself to 

considering what police can do: carefully consider whether others 

in your community share responsibility for the problem and can 

help police better respond to it. The responsibility of responding, 

in some cases, may need to be shifted toward those who have the 

capacity to implement more effective responses. This is particularly 

true in the case of school congestion problems, as solutions 

typically rely on the leadership and cooperation of school staff, 

teachers, students, and parents. (For more detailed information 

on shifting and sharing responsibility, see Response Guide No. 3, 

Shifting and Sharing Responsibility for Public Safety Problems).

Responses to the Problem of Traffic Congestion Around Schools 25
26 Traffic Congestion Around Schools

Specific Responses To Reduce Traffic Congestion 

Around Schools

Changing Transportation Modes

Many responses to the problem of school traffic congestion 

are designed to reduce the number of children taken to 

school in private vehicles. These efforts are often presented 

as environmentally friendly programs that increase physical 

activity among children, resulting in benefits far beyond that 

of reduced traffic congestion. With any of these programs 

designed to change parents’ and students’ behavior, incentives 

for participating as well as changes designed to make it 

easier to participate can go a long way toward achieving 

congestion reductions. Marin County, California, for example, 

implemented many of the responses described below to 

encourage children to walk or bike to school, and experienced 

a 50 percent increase in the number of children walking 

and biking and a corresponding decrease of 29 percent in 

car traffic around the school.18 Similar results have been 

achieved in Boston and Minnesota,19 as well as in jurisdictions 

throughout the United Kingdom20 and Canada.21

Educating parents. You can educate parents about their 

children’s using alternative transportation modes to and 

from school, as well as the dangers and legal consequences 

of traffic violations, and ways that parents play a role 

in reducing congestion and increasing student safety by 

following the rules of the road. You can provide such 

information in the PTA newsletter or distribute it in fliers 

handed to parents while they are waiting in school 

drop-off and pick-up zones.

1.
Responses to the Problem of Traffic Congestion Around Schools 27

Encouraging students to walk or bike to school. You 

could encourage students to walk or bike to school 

if the school curriculum integrates the health and 

environmental benefits of walking or biking to school 

into the school curriculum (e.g., encouraging pupils to 

consider the impact of different transportation choices 

on the environment as well as their own physical health). 

You can enhance such programs by enabling students 

to earn points and/or rewards based on how frequently 

they walk or bike to school.

Encouraging carpooling. Likewise, parents would have 

an added incentive to carpool if you created a special 

express carpool lane, enabling participating drivers to get 

in and out of the school area—and on to their jobs or 

errands—faster.

2.

3.

www.iwalktoschool.org

Adding crosswalks and crossing guards is one way to make walking 

and biking to school safer and easier for students.
28 Traffic Congestion Around Schools

Mapping out safe pedestrian routes. One such program 

is called Safe Routes to School,§ which is designed 

to “improve children’s health and that of the overall 

community by making walking and bicycling to school 

safer and easier.” This is achieved by mapping out the 

safest ways (e.g., those that avoid busy intersections and 

use sidewalks) that children can travel by bike or walk to 

and from school, adding crosswalks and crossing guards, 

and encouraging parents to have their children walk or 

bike to school. Most local police agencies have basic 

computerized mapping capabilities that they could use 

for this purpose. The city or county planning department 

can often provide an alternative source of mapping 

expertise. 

4.

City of Glendale, Arizona

Programs such as “Safe Routes to School” employ tactics such as 

adding crosswalks and crossing guards and encouraging parents to 

have their children walk or bike to school. 

§ For more information, see 

the National Safe Routes to 

School Clearinghouse at www.

saferoutesinfo.org.
Responses to the Problem of Traffic Congestion Around Schools 29

Implementing a “walking school bus” program.

Under such programs, a route is identified similar to a bus 

route, but also selected with pedestrian safety in mind. 

Parents are recruited to “drive” the bus, walking along 

the predetermined route to pick up children who are 

registered by their parents to “ride” the bus and escort 

them by foot to the school. Student sashes, school bag 

tags, and bus stop signs are often used as part of the 

program, as are backpacks and lockers to make it easier 

for children to walk without having to haul a large volume 

of books and school supplies with them. Naturally, such 

programs work only in neighborhoods that are near (i.e., 

in walking distance) of the school. 

Similar to walking buses, cycle trains entail a group of 

parents and pupils cycling to school together. Safe biking 

routes are mapped out in advance, and school bags and 

lunch boxes are transported in a bike trailer pulled by a 

parent volunteer. Any biking program should include the 

installation of lockers or other ways to accommodate 

and secure the anticipated increase in bikes on school 

property.

5. 

Programs such as “walking school bus” identify routes similar to bus 

routes, but do so with pedestrian safety in mind.

Green Communities Canada Active & Safe Routes to School
30 Traffic Congestion Around Schools

Instituting school busing. While this option is typically 

viewed as cost-prohibitive, using buses or minivans to 

transport children to school is nonetheless an effective 

means of reducing the number of children taken to 

school by car, as well as the congestion that accompanies 

that transportation mode. Instituting a busing program, 

however, must involve a consideration of when and 

where buses will load and unload. Otherwise, buses could 

end up contributing to a congestion problem rather than 

reducing it. Moreover, before initiating a new busing 

system, it may be useful to survey parents to confirm 

that they would use it.

Implementing Drop-Off, Pick-Up, and Physical 

Design Measures

The source of many congestion problems stems from poorly 

planned drop-off and pick-up procedures, as well as parkingrelated physical design characteristics. Altering these rules 

and design characteristics can often resolve congestion issues 

with little impact to parents’ and students’ daily routines. 

In Plano, Texas, measures to reroute traffic through the 

designation of one-way streets, the synchronization of street 

traffic lights with school dismissal times, additional signs, and 

other physical design measures resulted in increases in traffic 

flow and a reduction in crashes around the school.22 In the 

Phoenix school system, implementing a school safety program 

that included changes to drop-off and pick-up procedures 

reduced congestion and yielded significant improvements to 

school safety across the state.§

6.

§ See www.walkinginfo.org

(accessed March 15, 2007).
Responses to the Problem of Traffic Congestion Around Schools 31

Altering drop-off and pick-up rules. You can reduce 

congestion considerably by altering the times during 

which parents can drop off or pick up their children or by 

staggering bell times. However, parents who have multiple 

children at the same school, yet different drop-off and 

pick-up times, may discourage these changes. A related 

change would be to change or add drop-off and pick-up 

locations, encouraging alternative routes into and out of 

the school area so that drivers would not all congregate 

in one place. Instituting “valets” at drop-off locations, 

whereby school staff or volunteers escort children from 

car to school, can also expedite the drop-off process. You 

should implement any change in drop-off and pick-up 

procedures at the start of the school term to eliminate 

confusion, accompanied by clear and detailed written 

instructions.

Strategically funneling traffic. You can minimize some 

types of congestion problems by directing different 

types of traffic to different locations on and around the 

school property. For example, you could locate staff 

parking behind the building, while buses pick up and 

drop off in one area and parents drop off and pick up 

their children in another area. These measures, however, 

are often not available to schools that do not have 

multiple areas serving these purposes, as well as those 

that have outgrown the neighborhoods in which they are 

located and therefore have little extra space to dedicate 

to strategic funneling. Indeed, in some situations, even if 

space were available to create new entry, exit, and parking 

locations, area residents might object to the reduction of 

green space caused by those changes.

7.

8.
32 Traffic Congestion Around Schools

Establishing curbing and parking zones. Using curbing 

and signs to extend drop-off and pick-up zones may 

reduce congestion at the immediate school site. Creating 

additional temporary parking areas along with safe 

pedestrian routes from those areas to the school can also 

have an impact. Such pedestrian routes might involve 

creating new crosswalks and/or using a crossing guard. 

In addition, you could create no-parking zones to restrict 

street parking that might be adding to congestion and 

restricting student pedestrians’ visibility.

Rerouting street networks. Often the simplest solution 

to the school congestion problem is to reroute streets to 

force drivers to seek alternative routes to and from the 

school. This is usually accomplished by creating one-way 

streets or erecting “no entry” signs on certain streets 

leading to the school, which might be in effect only during 

peak drop-off and pick-up hours.

Synchronizing traffic lights. One simple approach 

to reducing school congestion is to examine traffic 

lights’ existing timing and to revise the lights’ timing to 

synchronize with school start and dismissal times. This 

measure naturally requires coordinating with your local 

traffic authority, and may not have an impact if the 

lights’ timing is not a source of the congestion problem 

to begin with.

9.

10.

11.
Responses to the Problem of Traffic Congestion Around Schools 33

§ See response guide No. 1, The 

Benefits and Consequences of Police 

Crackdowns, for further information 

on how intensive enforcement works.

Responses With Limited Effectiveness

Enhancing the enforcement of existing traffic laws.

As with similar, more “reactive” police measures, such 

as increased patrols, enhanced enforcement of existing 

traffic laws is likely to have a positive but short-term 

impact on the problem. As soon as traffic enforcement 

reverts back to preintervention levels, congestion is 

likely to increase again.§ However, if patrols are assigned 

strategically to increase presence during peak arrival and 

departure periods, they may serve as a very useful and 

effective complement to other problem-solving measures.

Increasing traffic fines. Often termed “double fines,” 

elevated traffic fines have been used to control speed in 

specified “safety corridors.” You could employ similar 

efforts to enforce zoning and parking rules designed to 

reduce congestion. However, evaluations suggest that 

signs indicating increased fines achieve little long-term 

impact.23

12.

13.

Appendix 35

Appendix: Summary of Responses to 

Traffic Congestion Around Schools

 

The table below summarizes the responses to school traffic 

congestion, the mechanism by which they are intended to 

work, the conditions under which they ought to work best, 

and some factors you should consider before implementing 

a particular response. It is critical that you tailor responses to 

local circumstances, and that you can justify each response 

based on reliable analysis. In most cases, an effective strategy 

will involve implementing several different responses. Law 

enforcement responses alone are seldom effective in reducing 

or solving the problem.

Response

 No.

Page 

No.

Response How It Works Works Best If Considerations

Changing Transportation Modes

1 26 Educating parents Reduces volume 

of vehicle traffic

...parents take 

ownership of 

the education 

process, persuading 

each other to 

seek alternative 

transportation 

methods for their 

children

Parents’ fears about child 

safety and “stranger danger” 

must be assuaged; parental 

education campaigns, unless 

ongoing, are unlikely to 

achieve long-term effects on 

their own

2 27 Encouraging 

students to walk 

or bike to school

Reduces volume 

of vehicle traffic

...it is integrated 

into the school 

curriculum, rather 

than presented as a 

one-time, stand-alone 

effort

Providing lockers or backpacks 

and limiting the number of 

items children have to take 

to and from school could 

facilitate compliance

3 27 Encourage 

carpooling

Reduces volume 

of vehicle traffic

...express carpool 

lanes are created, 

providing easy dropoff and pick- up, and 

rewarding carpoolers 

by enabling them to 

bypass congestion

School administrators could 

play a role in encouraging 

carpooling by generating lists 

of neighboring students and 

distributing them to parents; 

some parents may have privacy 

concerns regarding sharing 

their children’s names and 

addresses with others
36

Response

 No.

Page 

No.

Response How It Works Works Best If Considerations

4 28 Mapping out safe 

pedestrian routes

Reduces volume 

of vehicle traffic

...it is combined 

with student and 

parental education 

campaigns (see 

above)

Safe routes may differ by 

transportation mode, requiring 

different maps for walkers 

versus bikers

5 29 Implementing a 

“walking school 

bus” program

Reduces volume 

of vehicle traffic

...it has strong 

support among 

parents

Requires a great degree of 

coordination and a dedicated 

team of volunteers

6 30 Instituting school 

busing

Reduces volume 

of vehicle traffic

...the bus loading 

and unloading 

zones are designed 

carefully; otherwise, 

buses may contribute 

to congestion

Busing is very expensive and 

would require strong political 

support at the jurisdictional 

level; busing also requires the 

support of parents and an 

assurance from them that they 

would allow their children to 

be taken to school by bus

Implementing Drop-Off, Pick-Up, and Physical Design Measures

7 31 Altering drop-off 

and pick-up rules

Eliminates 

peak volume 

times, reducing 

congestion

...parents are alerted 

well in advance of 

any change

You will need to make special 

exceptions for parents with 

multiple school-aged children; 

any carpool lanes would need 

to be exempt

8 31 Strategically 

funneling traffic

Reduces 

congestion at 

key points

...there is adequate 

space for alternatives

Creating alternative parking 

and pick-up and drop-off 

locations may be costly; may 

reduce green space

9 32 Establishing 

curbing and 

parking zones

Reduces 

congestion 

in drop-off 

and pick-up 

areas; improves 

pedestrians’ 

visibility, thereby 

reducing crash 

hazards

...you use crosswalks 

and crossing guards 

to ensure student 

safety in walking to 

and from parking 

areas

Any new parking or zoning 

schemes need to be stringently 

enforced

36 Traffic Congestion Around Schools
Appendix 37

Response

 No.

Page 

No.

Response How It Works Works Best If Considerations

10 32 Rerouting street 

networks

Reduces 

congestion

... rerouting is 

planned holistically, 

considering traffic 

light timing, peak 

congestion times, 

and local residential 

concerns

Requires extensive 

coordination with local traffic 

and planning agencies

11 32 Synchronizing 

traffic lights

Reduces 

congestion

... synchronization 

plans are designed 

within the larger 

context of residential 

and commuter traffic 

issues

Can be costly

Responses With Limited Effectiveness

12 33 Enhancing the 

enforcement of 

existing traffic 

laws

Deters driving 

or unsafe 

driving

...enforcement is 

both random and 

ongoing

Requires ongoing vigilance; 

otherwise, congestion 

problems quickly revert back 

to preintervention levels

13 33 Increasing traffic 

fines

Deters parking, 

thereby reducing 

congestion, and 

deters unsafe 

driving

... fines are 

stringently enforced

Evaluations of similar schemes 

to control speeding indicate 

little if any long-term impact

Appendix Endnotes 3939

Endnotes

1 Matthews (1998); also see Cooner et al. (2004). 

2 National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (2001).

3 Derek Halden Consultancy (2002).

4 Dickson (2000).

5 Kearns and Collins (2003); Black, Collins, and Snell (2001).

6 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2006).

7 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2006).

8 Downs (1999).

9 Hillman (1993).

10 Granville et al. (2002).

11 Derek Halden Consultancy (2002).

12 Bradshaw (1995).

13 Valentine (1996).

14 St. Petersburg Times (2005).

15 Davis (1996); Korecki (1999).

16 Associated Press (1999); Wiser (2005).

17 Oakes (2003).

18 Appleyard (2003).

19 Alexandria Health Department (2003).

20 Department of Environment, Transportation, and Regions (1999).

21 O’Brien (2000); also see Better Environmentally Sound Transportation (2007).

22 Plano Police Department (2004).

23 Jones, Griffith, and Haas (2002).

References 41

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Human Services.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2006). 

“Traffic Safety Facts, 2004 Data: Children.” www-nrd.

nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/TSF2004/809906.pdf

(accessed July 2006).

Oakes, A. (2003). “Students Tread Lightly/Most Don’t Walk 

to Heritage School.” The San Diego Union-Tribune, January 30, 

p. B1.

References 43
O’Brien, C. (2000). “Way To Go! Getting Kids to School the 

Sustainable Way.” Alternatives Journal 26(2):35. 

Plano Police Department (2004). “It Takes a Village: 

Easing Traffic Congestion Around Barron Elementary 

School”. Submission for the Herman Goldstein Award for 

Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing. www.popcenter.

org/Library/Goldstein/2004/04-31(F).pdf (accessed March 

15, 2007).

Plummer, D. (2002). “School Zone Traffic Congestion Study, 

2002.” Miami: Miami-Dade County Metropolitan Planning 

Organization.

St. Petersburg Times (2005). “District Takes Right Approach to 

Traffic.” April 1, Editorial, p 2. 

Valentine, G. 1996. “Angels and Devils: Moral Landscapes 

of Childhood.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space

14(5):581–599.

Wiser, P. (2005). “School Parking Lot: It’s a Jungle Out 

There!” Chicago Sun-Times, August 26, p. 68.

44 Traffic Congestion Around Schools
About the Author 45

About the Author

Nancy G. La Vigne

Nancy G. La Vigne is a senior research associate at the Urban 

Institute in Washington, D.C., where she directs several 

projects related to crime prevention, prisoner reentry, and 

the use of mapping to understand and address a variety of 

criminal justice problems. Prior to joining the Urban Institute, 

La Vigne was the founding director of the National Institute 

of Justice’s Crime Mapping Research Center (now known 

as the MAPS program); research director for the Texas 

Punishment Standards Commission; and a consultant to the 

Police Executive Research Forum, the National Council on 

Crime and Delinquency, and the National Development and 

Research Institute. La Vigne holds a doctorate in criminal 

justice from Rutgers University and a master’s degree in public 

affairs from the University of Texas at Austin.

Recommended Readings 47

Recommended Readings

• A Police Guide to Surveying Citizens and Their 

Environments, Bureau of Justice Assistance, 1993. This 

guide offers a practical introduction for police practitioners 

to two types of surveys that police find useful: surveying 

public opinion and surveying the physical environment. It 

provides guidance on whether and how to conduct costeffective surveys.

• Assessing Responses to Problems: An 

Introductory Guide for Police Problem-Solvers,

by John E. Eck (U.S. Department of Justice Office of 

Community Oriented Policing Services, 2001). This guide 

is a companion to the Problem-Oriented Guides for Police series. 

It provides basic guidance to measuring and assessing 

problem-oriented policing efforts.

• Conducting Community Surveys, by Deborah Weisel 

(Bureau of Justice Statistics and Office of Community 

Oriented Policing Services, 1999). This guide, along with 

accompanying computer software, provides practical, basic 

pointers for police in conducting community surveys. The 

document is also available at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs.

• Crime Prevention Studies, edited by Ronald V. Clarke 

(Criminal Justice Press, 1993, et seq.). This is a series of 

volumes of applied and theoretical research on reducing 

opportunities for crime. Many chapters are evaluations of 

initiatives to reduce specific crime and disorder problems.
48 Traffic Congestion Around Schools

• Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing: The 

1999 Herman Goldstein Award Winners. This 

document produced by the National Institute of Justice 

in collaboration with the Office of Community Oriented 

Policing Services and the Police Executive Research Forum 

provides detailed reports of the best submissions to the 

annual award program that recognizes exemplary problemoriented responses to various community problems. A 

similar publication is available for the award winners from 

subsequent years. The documents are also available at www.

ojp.usdoj.gov/nij.

• Not Rocket Science? Problem-Solving and Crime 

Reduction, by Tim Read and Nick Tilley (Home Office 

Crime Reduction Research Series, 2000). Identifies and 

describes the factors that make problem-solving effective 

or ineffective as it is being practiced in police forces in 

England and Wales.

• Opportunity Makes the Thief: Practical Theory 

for Crime Prevention, by Marcus Felson and Ronald V. 

Clarke (Home Office Police Research Series, Paper No. 98, 

1998). Explains how crime theories such as routine activity 

theory, rational choice theory and crime pattern theory 

have practical implications for the police in their efforts to 

prevent crime.

• Problem Analysis in Policing, by Rachel Boba (Police 

Foundation, 2003). Introduces and defines problem 

analysis and provides guidance on how problem analysis 

can be integrated and institutionalized into modern 

policing practices.
Recommended Readings 49

• Problem-Oriented Policing, by Herman Goldstein 

(McGraw-Hill, 1990, and Temple University Press, 1990). 

Explains the principles and methods of problem-oriented 

policing, provides examples of it in practice, and discusses 

how a police agency can implement the concept.

• Problem-Oriented Policing and Crime Prevention, 

by Anthony A. Braga (Criminal Justice Press, 2003). 

Provides a thorough review of significant policing research 

about problem places, high-activity offenders, and repeat 

victims, with a focus on the applicability of those findings 

to problem-oriented policing. Explains how police 

departments can facilitate problem-oriented policing by 

improving crime analysis, measuring performance, and 

securing productive partnerships.

• Problem-Oriented Policing: Reflections on the 

First 20 Years, by Michael S. Scott (U.S. Department of 

Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 

2000). Describes how the most critical elements of 

Herman Goldstein's problem-oriented policing model have 

developed in practice over its 20-year history, and proposes 

future directions for problem-oriented policing. The report 

is also available at www.cops.usdoj.gov.

• Problem-Solving: Problem-Oriented Policing in 

Newport News, by John E. Eck and William Spelman 

(Police Executive Research Forum, 1987). Explains the 

rationale behind problem-oriented policing and the 

problem-solving process, and provides examples of 

effective problem-solving in one agency.
50 Traffic Congestion Around Schools

• Problem-Solving Tips: A Guide to Reducing 

Crime and Disorder Through Problem-Solving 

Partnerships by Karin Schmerler, Matt Perkins, Scott 

Phillips, Tammy Rinehart and Meg Townsend. (U.S. 

Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented 

Policing Services, 1998) (also available at www.cops.usdoj.

gov). Provides a brief introduction to problem-solving, 

basic information on the SARA model and detailed 

suggestions about the problem-solving process.

• Situational Crime Prevention: Successful Case 

Studies, Second Edition, edited by Ronald V. Clarke 

(Harrow and Heston, 1997). Explains the principles and 

methods of situational crime prevention, and presents over 

20 case studies of effective crime prevention initiatives.

• Tackling Crime and Other Public-Safety Problems: 

Case Studies in Problem-Solving, by Rana Sampson 

and Michael S. Scott (U.S. Department of Justice Office of 

Community Oriented Policing Services, 2000) (also available 

at www.cops.usdoj.gov). Presents case studies of effective 

police problem-solving on 18 types of crime and disorder 

problems.

• Using Analysis for Problem-Solving: A Guidebook 

for Law Enforcement, by Timothy S. Bynum (U.S. 

Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented 

Policing Services, 2001). Provides an introduction for 

police to analyzing problems within the context of 

problem-oriented policing.

• Using Research: A Primer for Law Enforcement 

Managers, Second Edition, by John E. Eck and Nancy G. 

LaVigne (Police Executive Research Forum, 1994). Explains 

many of the basics of research as it applies to police 

management and problem-solving.
Other Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 51

Other Problem-Oriented Guides for Police

Problem-Specific Guides series:

1. Assaults in and Around Bars, 2nd Edition. Michael S. Scott and 

Kelly Dedel. 2001. ISBN: 1-932582-00-2

2. Street Prostitution, 2nd Edition. Michael S. Scott and 

Kelly Dedel. 2001. ISBN: 1-932582-01-0

3. Speeding in Residential Areas. Michael S. Scott. 2001.

ISBN: 1-932582-02-9

4. Drug Dealing in Privately Owned Apartment Complexes. 

Rana Sampson. 2001. ISBN: 1-932582-03-7

5. False Burglar Alarms, 2nd Edition. Rana Sampson. 2001. 

ISBN: 1-932582-04-5

6. Disorderly Youth in Public Places. Michael S. Scott. 2001.

ISBN: 1-932582-05-3

7. Loud Car Stereos. Michael S. Scott. 2001. ISBN: 1-932582-06-1

8. Robbery at Automated Teller Machines. Michael S. Scott. 2001.

ISBN: 1-932582-07-X

9. Graffiti. Deborah Lamm Weisel. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-08-8

10. Thefts of and From Cars in Parking Facilities. Ronald V. 

Clarke. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-09-6

11. Shoplifting. Ronald V. Clarke. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-10-X

12. Bullying in Schools. Rana Sampson. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-11-8

13. Panhandling. Michael S. Scott. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-12-6

14. Rave Parties. Michael S. Scott. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-13-4

15. Burglary of Retail Establishments. Ronald V. Clarke. 2002. 

ISBN: 1-932582-14-2

16. Clandestine Methamphetamine Labs, 2nd Edition. Michael S. 

Scott. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-15-0

17. Acquaintance Rape of College Students. Rana Sampson. 2002.

ISBN: 1-932582-16-9

18. Burglary of Single-Family Houses. Deborah Lamm Weisel. 

2002. ISBN: 1-932582-17-7

19. Misuse and Abuse of 911. Rana Sampson. 2002.

ISBN: 1-932582-18-5
52 Traffic Congestion Around Schools

20. Financial Crimes Against the Elderly.

Kelly Dedel Johnson. 2003. ISBN: 1-932582-22-3

21. Check and Card Fraud. Graeme R. Newman. 2003. 

ISBN: 1-932582-27-4

22. Stalking. The National Center for Victims of Crime. 2004.

ISBN: 1-932582-30-4

23. Gun Violence Among Serious Young Offenders. Anthony A. 

Braga. 2004. ISBN: 1-932582-31-2

24. Prescription Fraud. Julie Wartell and Nancy G. La Vigne. 2004.

ISBN: 1-932582-33-9

25. Identity Theft. Graeme R. Newman. 2004. ISBN: 1-932582-35-3

26. Crimes Against Tourists. Ronald W. Glensor and Kenneth J. 

Peak. 2004. ISBN: 1-932582-36-3

27. Underage Drinking. Kelly Dedel. 2004. 

ISBN: 1-932582-39-8

28. Street Racing. Kenneth J. Peak and Ronald W. Glensor. 2004. 

ISBN: 1-932582-42-8

29. Cruising. Kenneth J. Peak and Ronald W. Glensor. 2004. 

ISBN: 1-932582-43-6

30. Disorder at Budget Motels. Karin Schmerler. 2005. 

ISBN: 1-932582-41-X

31. Drug Dealing in Open-Air Markets. Alex Harocopos and Mike 

Hough. 2005. ISBN: 1-932582-45-2

32. Bomb Threats in Schools. Graeme R. Newman. 2005. 

ISBN: 1-932582-46-0

33. Illicit Sexual Activity in Public Places. Kelly Dedel Johnson. 

2005. ISBN: 1-932582-47-9

34. Robbery of Taxi Drivers. Martha J. Smith. 2005. 

ISBN: 1-932582-50-9

35. School Vandalism and Break-Ins. Kelly Dedel Johnson. 2005. 

ISBN: 1-9325802-51-7

36. Drunk Driving. Michael S. Scott, Nina J. Emerson, Louis B. 

Antonacci, and Joel B. Plant. 2005. ISBN: 1-932582-57-6

37. Juvenile Runaways. Kelly Dedel. 2006. ISBN: 1932582-56-8

38. The Exploitation of Trafficked Women. Graeme R. Newman. 

2006. ISBN: 1-932582-59-2
Other Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 53

39. Student Party Riots. Tamara D. Madensen and John E. 

Eck. 2006. ISBN: 1-932582-60-6

40. People with Mental Illness. Gary Cordner. 2006. 

ISBN: 1-932582-63-0

41. Child Pornography on the Internet. Richard Wortley 

and Stephen Smallbone. 2006. ISBN: 1-932582-65-7

42. Witness Intimidation. Kelly Dedel. 2006. 

ISBN: 1-932582-67-3

43. Burglary at Single-Family House Construction 

Sites. Rachel Boba and Roberto Santos. 2006. 

ISBN: 1-932582-00-2

44. Disorder at Day Laborer Sites. Rob Guerette. 2007. 

ISBN: 1-932582-72-X

45. Domestic Violence. Rana Sampson. 2007. 

ISBN: 1-932582-74-6

46. Thefts of and from Cars on Residential Streets and 

Driveways. Todd Keister. 2007. ISBN: 1-932582-76-2

47. Drive-By Shootings. Kelly Dedel. 2007. 

ISBN: 1-932582-77-0

48. Bank Robbery. Deborah Lamm Weisel. 2007. 

ISBN: 1-932582-78-9

49. Robbery of Convenience Stores. Alicia Altizio and 

Diana York. 2007. ISBN: 1-932582-79-7

50. Traffic Congestion Around Schools. 

Nancy G. La Vigne. 2007. ISBN: 1-932582-82-7

Response Guides series:

The Benefits and Consequences of Police 

Crackdowns. Michael S. Scott. 2003. ISBN: 1-932582-24-X

Closing Streets and Alleys to Reduce Crime: Should 

You Go Down This Road? Ronald V. Clarke. 2004. 

ISBN: 1-932582-41-X

Shifting and Sharing Responsibility for Public Safety 

Problems. Michael S. Scott and Herman Goldstein. 

2005. ISBN: 1-932582-55-X

1.

2.

3.
Video Surveillance of Public Places. Jerry Ratcliffe. 

2006 ISBN: 1-932582-58-4

Crime Prevention Publicity Campaigns.

Emmanuel Barthe. 2006 ISBN: 1-932582-66-5

Problem-Solving Tools series: 

Assessing Responses to Problems: An Introductory 

Guide for Police Problem-Solvers. John E. Eck. 2002. 

ISBN: 1-932582-19-3

Researching a Problem. Ronald V. Clarke and Phyllis A. 

Schultz. 2005. ISBN: 1-932582-48-7

Using Offender Interviews to Inform Police Problem 

Solving. Scott H. Decker. 2005. ISBN: 1-932582-49-5

Analyzing Repeat Victimization. Deborah Lamm 

Weisel. 2005. ISBN: 1-932582-54-1

Partnering with Businesses to Address Public Safety 

Problems. Sharon Chamard. 2006. ISBN: 1-932582-62-2

Understanding Risky Facilities. Ronald V. Clarke and 

John E. Eck. 2007. ISBN: 1-932582-75-4

Implementing Responses to Problems. Rick Brown 

and Michael S. Scott. 2007. ISBN: 1-932582-80-0

Using Crime Prevention Through Enviornmental 

Design in Problem Solving. Diane Zahm. 2007. 

ISBN: 1-932582-81-9

4.

5.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

54 Traffic Congestion Around Schools
Other Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 55

Upcoming Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 

Problem-Specific Guides

Abandoned Vehicles

Bicycle Theft

Crowd Control at Stadiums and Other Entertainment Venues

Child Abuse

Crime and Disorder in Parks

Transient Encampments

Problem-Solving Tools

Designing a Problem Analysis System

Displacement

Response Guides

Enhancing Lighting

Sting Operations

For more information about the Problem-Oriented Guides for 

Police series and other COPS Office publications, please call 

the COPS Office Response Center at 800.421.6770 or visit 

COPS Online at www.cops.usdoj.gov. 


www.cops.usdoj.gov

For More Information:

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

1100 Vermont Avenue, N.W.

Washington, DC 20530

To obtain details on COPS programs, call the

COPS Office Response Center at 800.421.6770

Visit COPS Online at the address listed below.

e080724100 August 2007

ISBN: 1-932582-82-7