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Home My WebLink AboutPD-6-93 THE OF THE TOWN OF NEWCASTLE General Purpose and Administration Committee ~.. ...." (-:- Ii Qt7\ C File # L 0 1:2 . "t,-J l;l ' Res.#~3 # Dale: Monday, January 4, 1993 #: I'D 6 93 File #: Subject: SCHOOL CROSSING GUARD REQUEST MITCHELLS CORNERS Recommendations: It is respectfully recommended to the General Purpose and Administration Committee recommend to Council the following: 1. THAT Report PD-6-93 be received; 2. THAT Cathy Ferguson, Gwen Banks, and Debbie Butson, and Paul Brace of the Public School Board be advised that an adult school crossing guard in front of Mitchell Corners Public School does not meet the necessary requirements. 1 . BACKGROUND: 1.1 On November 2, 1992, Ruth Ferguson appeared as a delegation before. the Committee ertainin to school crossin uard request in front of Mitchell Corners Public School. result, Committee passed the following resolution: As a "THAT her request for the placement of a crossing guard on Trulls Road North to assist children attending Mitchells Corners School, be re-investigated and the safety concerns expressed by Cathy Ferguson be addressed." 1.2 Ruth Ferguson has requested a school crossing guard earlier in September, 1992. As a result of her request, a Need Study was conducted on September 22, 1992. Information gathered during the morning study period include number of school children crossing Trulls Road, width of pavement, number of vehicles . . . 2 RECYCLED PAPIEIl PAPEfl llECYCL~ n,kS IS PflltfT[DO/l HECYClED PAPEI1 REPORT NO.: PD-6-93 PAGE 2 and gap time between vehicles, speed limit etc. Said information was then calculated based on a prescribed formula to determine the percentage of the study time when school children crossing the roadway will be delayed. The study result indicates 15%. It should be noted that the morning of the Study was raining and the 15% result may not be accurate, as pointed out by Mrs. Ferguson. 1.3 Council's policy on placement of school crossing guards is contained in Report PD-47-91 approved by Council on February 25, 1991. The Report is attached herein for your information. In essence, a minimum of 50% delay time or difficulty in crossing is required for placement of a school crossing guard. 2. A SECOND STUDY 2.1 As a result of Council's direction, a second study was carried out on December 16, 1992 between 3:30 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. Condition during the study time was partly sunny and partly . 9J.gl.l<=!y'mCl11<=!J:."<:>Cl<=!m PClY~111~11t:.\\T Clf3<=!I."Y. .... I?llI.":i 11g ......t:.l1J f3.... f3t:.11<=! YPl?J::':iQQ., a total of ten (10) children crossed Trulls Road and most were accompanied by adults. within the same time period, a total of 32 vehicles passed in front of the school in both directions. This information was then applied to the prescribed formula and the result indicates 16% of the study time where school children will be delayed in crossing Trulls Road. 2.2 Based on Council's adopted policy, a crossing guard is NOT warranted at this location. 3. SIGHT DISTANCE CONCERN 3.1 The concern raised by Mrs. Ferguson with respect to inadequate . . . 3 584 REPORT NO.: PD-6-93 PAGE 3 sight distance was examined by Public Works staff. They advised that the available stopping sight distance is approximately 525 feet due south on Trulls Road from the school. Said distance is based on a driver with a height of eye at 3.45 feet above the road pavement, looking at an object at 1.25 feet above the pavement as per the Ministry of Transportation Geometric Design Standards for ontario highways. 3.2 Based on the stopping sight distance, the grade change and vertical curvature of Trulls Road, it was determined that the section of Trulls Road south of the school can accommodate a design speed limit of a maximum of 90 km/hr. posted speed limit is 50 km/hr. The actual 3.3 In summary, the Public Works staff investigation does not appear to reveal a sight distance problem on Trulls Road for school children crossing the said road to Mitchell Corners 4. CONCLUSION Since the crossing guard need study result does not support the placement of a crossing guard and that sight distance on Trulls Road does not appear to be problematic, staff recommend that no further action should be undertaken. 1 A copy o~ this report has been forwarded to Mrs. Ferguson and she has been advised of the procedure to appear as a delegation to the General Purpose and Administration Committee. . . .4 r.. .~.. 5 . ) J') REPORT NO.: PD-6-93 PAGE 4 Respectfully submitted, Recommended for presentation to the Committee cJ r~ ~ Franklin Wu, M.C.I.P. Director of Planning and Development j) 'm". J=7 " / ;:~/j (/ [QL{ltL{Jjl.. !Jt~t/ Lawrence E. Ko~reff Chief Administ/.t~ti ve Officer I J Walter Evans, P.Eng. Director of Public Works FW*jip *Attach 21 December 1992 r~ () f.. J~. .) ArrA(.'KNC'NT To fZEfli f-T P j '- G Jt'3. REPORT ;~~'; ~ .15- f if'} , THE CORPORATION OFTHE TOWN OF NEWCASTLE , ' DN:CROSS-GU.GPA Meeting: General Purpose and Administration Committee File # Date: February 18, 1991 Res. ;; By-Law # Report #: PD-4 7 -q 1 File #: llR ?fi.15 Subject: POLICIES RELATED TO SCHOOL CROSSING GUARD NEED Recommendations: It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and Administration Committee recommend to Council the following: 1. THAT Report PD-47-91 be received; 2. THAT Council approve the policies for determining the need for School Crossing Guard as contained in Report PD-47-91. ;l 3. THAT Report PD-47-91 be forwarded to the Northumberland and Newcastle Public School Board and the Peterborough, Victoria, Northumberland and Newcastle Separate School Board for their 'information. 1. BACKGROUND 1.1 The Town of Newcastle has been responsible for the provision OfmScliooI nCrossingmGuards 'inCluding"'persoiinerrecrun:meiit~ providing remuneration and equipment. The cost of this service comes from general tax revenue and the 1990 total operating budget for operating the crossing guard program is $95,000. 1.2 The Town currently has a total of 17 crossing guards on payroll and their patrol locations are distributed as follows: Bowmanville 9 Courtice 3 Newcastle Vlg. 2 REPORT NO.: PA:GE 2 PD-47-91 ( Newtonville 1 2 Rovers 1.3 From time to tL~e, Council and staff receive requests from the School Board or from local residents for crossing guard services. In the past, these requests were sometimes addressed by Council and sometimes addressed by staff. 1.4 Issues related to request for school crossing guards is often sensitive and rightfully so as it pertains to the safety of the school children. It should be noted that every time a crossing guard is introduced, it places financial burden on the tax base for such service. Given the hundreds of intersections in the municipality that involve some degrees of school children crossing activities it is. prudent that crossing guard service be provided where there is a need of it. As a result, policies must be developed to ensure the Town is consistent in its approach and more importantly, the tax dollar is spent in a responsible manner. 2: DETERMINATION OF THE NEED OF CROSSING GUARD 2.1 The Transportation Engineers Association has developed a methodology to determine the need for crossing guard service by carrying out a crossing guard need study. This need study approach is used in many municipalities including the City of Oshawa. Staff have now acquired the training and are capable to carry out this type of study. 2.2 Briefly, the Crossing Guard Need Study requires field survey to collect key data. These include, at any particular crossing and at a specific time span (eg. 8:15 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.) information on the number of school children crossing the roadway, the size of the grouping of children, the width JC3 ~~..,..", ;1/ ~: Td "Ji ~:t .~ . ~l. . i J. REPORT NO.: P'D-47-91 PAGE 3 of the roadway, volume of vehicles, as well as various time gaps between vehicles passing through. This data is fed into prescribed formula to arrive at the percentage of time within the study period where crossing by school children is deemed to be undesirable. 2.3 The Crossing Guard Need Study recommends that a crossing guard be placed where the percentage to time for unsafe crossing reaches approximately 70%. It is noted that the 70% is a suggested guideline and the municipality can set its own standard. 3. RECOMMENDED POLICIES 3.1 That it is the policy of the Town to provitie school crossing guard upon, request where the result of the crossing guard need study indicates a minimum 50% of the study time where school children crossing is deemed to be unsafe at any crossing location. 3.2 That any crossing guard request be referred to the Director of Planning and Development to determine its need based on ------- -------- --- --------------- ------------- fitidings-frommamschool crossing guard need study. 4. CONCLUSION It is the role of the staff to administer the school crossing guard prQgram and in so doing, the staff must be guided by Council's direction or policies and it is prudent that Council approve the policies contained herein. Respectfully submitted, Recommended for presentation to the Committee cJ~~ ~ /1/ Franklin Wu, M.C.I.P. Director of Planning and Development FW*df *Attach 7 February 1991 .. ~~ - ~