School Crossing Supervisor Program

The School Crossing Supervisor Program model is in line with the Road Management Act 2004 and the Transport Integration Act 2010 which outline that road safety is a joint responsibility of State and Local government.

Under the model, each local government operates the program within their boundaries while the Victorian Government provides a subsidy to local government and are responsible for the overarching program.

2024-25 State budget funding announcement

In the recent 2024/25 State Budget, $57.379 million was allocated for two years for the School Crossing Supervisor Program. This funding supports the Victorian Government’s commitment to meet the 50 per cent state contribution to the Program.

School Crossing Risk Assessment Framework

In 2019, the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) launched a review to develop a more rigorous safe-system approach to assessing school crossings and identifying suitable treatment options. This resulted in the formulation of the School Crossing Risk Assessment Framework (the Framework).

The Framework is methodology for assessing risks at school crossings and identifying crossing treatment solutions tailored to the site. The Framework involves assessing school crossings, using a broader range of road safety safe system factors including:

vehicle and pedestrian volumes,
sight distance and visibility,
road configuration,
driver and pedestrian behaviour,
types of vehicles,
exiting infrastructure
surrounding speed zones and
considers whether alternative safety measures and treatments should be implemented.

The Framework is ready to be used for data collection and will be used to progressively assess all crossing sites over the next two years. A transition plan will be developed in partnership with the School Crossing Reference Group for considering the replacement of the current warrants with the Framework assessments.

Interim Guidelines

The VicRoads Supplement to Austroads Guide to Traffic Management Part 10 (2009) which includes the Interim School Crossing Supervision Guidelines has been updated.

School Crossing Supervisor Subsidy interim guidelines

PDF 146.26 KB

Supplement to AS 1742.10:2009 Manual of uniform traffic control devices Part 10: Pedestrian control and protection

PDF 2.78 MB

The interim guidelines include the use of the Framework as well as the current program warrants to be used for assessing eligibility for supervisor subsidy until the Framework is fully migrated to be the only assessment method for determining subsidy eligibility.

A transition plan will be developed in partnership with local government via the School Crossing Reference group.

School Crossing Reference Group

To further understand opportunities for the School Crossing Supervisor Program and crossing safety, DTP together with Local Government Victoria (LGV) established a School Crossing Reference Group in late 2023.

Through an expressions of interest process, a selection of metropolitan and regional/rural council representatives joined the Reference Group.

The Reference Group has had two meetings since its inception and insights provided to date have been invaluable in understanding further opportunities for the Program.

Further meetings have been scheduled in July and October 2024.

School Crossing Infrastructure Package

We will shortly be in contact with all councils seeking expressions of interest for an upcoming road infrastructure program.

The Safe Crossing Infrastructure for Schools Program aims to identify and mitigate pedestrian risk of school-aged pedestrians in accordance with Safe System principles across Victoria.

Updates and further information about the Program, the Framework and Reference Group will be posted here regularly.

A survey was undertaken in the Strathbogie Shire community to find out how parents, carers and their children use and experience the school crossings in their area. Read more about it below.

The Department of Transport and Planning created a survey for the Strathbogie Shire community to give feedback on how they use and experience the school crossings in their area.
Who we heard from
The survey was targeted to parents and carers of school children in the shire who use school crossings at primary schools across Strathbogie Shire.
All respondents said they were local residents, living within Strathbogie Shire. The majority of respondents had students attending:
- St Joseph’s Primary school, Nagambie
- Avenel Primary School, Avenel
- Euroa Primary School, Euroa
- St John’s Primary School, Euroa
- Nagambie Primary School. Nagambie
Most respondents said they, or their children, use one or more school crossings every morning, and every afternoon.
Survey participation
How we engaged: A total of 170 people completed our online survey. The survey was open for two weeks, from 25 June – 4 July 2024.
What we heard
1. Parents and carers valued the presence of funded school crossing supervisors
2. 67% of parents and carers reported feeling safe or very safe when using the current school crossings (noting they all have formal or volunteer school crossing supervisors)
3. 76% of respondents said their children use the school crossings independently at least some of the time.
4. Parents and carers are largely aware (96%) of the lowered speed limits during morning and afternoon school times.
Additional comments from the community included:
- A preference for school crossing supervisors on both local and arterial roads
- A desire for participation of Strathbogie Shire Council in the management of school crossing supervisors
- A view that school crossing supervisors are valued and play an important role in the community.
Thank you
The Department of Transport and Planning would like to thank the community for participating in the Strathbogie Shire School Crossing Safety Survey.

Contact

If you would like further information, contact the Road Safety partnerships team at scsp@transport.vic.gov.au

Traffic & transport

Updated 3 September 2024