School Crossings

Policy

This policy explains responsibilities for school crossings and to support schools to reduce the risk of accident or injury at and around school crossings.

Details

Schools are not responsible for the establishment, staffing, resourcing or maintenance of school crossings.

VicRoads and local municipal councils share responsibility for school crossings, including the establishment of the crossing, training and employment of school crossing supervisors and the supply of flags, uniforms and equipment.

Children’s crossings are only operational when the flags have been displayed by a school crossing supervisor or signs with flashing lights are operating. When flags or flashing lights are displayed, drivers must not proceed through the crossing if children or adults are still on the crossing or about to start crossing, regardless of the presence of a crossing supervisor. When crossing flags or flashing lights are not displayed, pedestrians must give way to passing road traffic.

School staff cannot be instructed to perform the role of a school crossing supervisor.

However, to discharge duty of care teachers or other school staff may need to monitor and support students crossing a road, without actually performing the role of a school crossing supervisor, for example:

• on school excursions
• where a school has grounds or campuses that cross over roads and students need to cross roads during the school day or at break times
• when performing yard duty immediately before and after the school day in areas with traffic adjacent to the school (for example, car parks or unsupervised crossings near school gates)

If principals have any student safety concerns about any road crossings that have not been designated a school crossing supervisor by the municipal council, they should raise these concerns with their local municipal council. Principals may also seek duty of care advice from the Department’s Legal Division.

If needed, principals may also remind students and parents of any specific traffic safety issues or risks in their local environment and promote the use of designated school crossings.

Definitions

School crossing
For the purpose of this policy school crossing refers to a children’s crossing or any other pedestrian crossing staffed by a school crossing supervisor.

Children’s crossing
'Children’s crossing' is defined in Rule 80 of the Road Safety Road Rules 2017 Victoria as an area of road:

(a) at a place with stop lines marked on the road, and

(i) children’s crossing flags, or

(ii) children’s crossing signs and twin yellow lights, and

(b) indicated by:

(i) 2 red and white posts erected on each side of the road, or

(ii) 2 parallel continuous or broken lines on the road surface from one side of the road completely or partly across the road, and

extending across the road between the posts or lines'

School crossing supervisor
The Road Safety (Traffic Management) Regulations 2009 (Vic) defines a school crossing supervisor as a person who is employed or authorised by a Municipal Council to supervise school crossings.

Related policies

• Reporting and Managing School Incidents (including emergencies)
• Supervision of Students

Relevant legislation

• Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic)
• Road Safety (Traffic Management) Regulations 2019 (Vic)
• Road Safety Road Rules 2017 (Vic)

Guidance

There is no further guidance for this topic. For more information, refer to the Resources tab.

Resources

For more information on school crossings, visit:

• Improving safety around our schools: VicRoads
• School Crossings Victoria
• Using pedestrian crossings and children's crossings