Evaluating the implementation of 30 km/h school zones

Abstract

In September 2005, every school environment became a 30 km/h zone. This speed limit can be enforced on a variable basis or a permanent one, sometimes supported by infrastructural measures. As the new law has been issued several years ago, an evaluation of the safety measure about its effect on the number of accidents and crashes with injuries has imposed itself. A before-and-after study is performed, using a reference group, to control for trend and regression to the mean effects. The research group exists of 60 school environments in Antwerp and a reference group with 75 streets is composed. The effectiveness index is examined by using the Emprical Bayes approach, which compares the accident rate of the treated location with an estimated accident rate if no safety measure had been applied. Results of the meta-analysis did not show a significant statistical effect on the number of accidents and accident severity. The general effectiveness index shows a decrease of 1% in total acciden