Study of Effectiveness of Selected School Zone Traffic Control Devices

The effectiveness of five different school zone traffic control devices was tested. Each was tested at a unique site. Speed data were obtained at each site before the devices were added and again 1 month and 6 months after the devices were installed. The five devices tested in the study were fiberoptic signs, spanwire-mounted flashing yellow beacons, post-mounted flashing yellow beacons, transverse lavender stripes, and large painted legends. Of the five sites tested, only the site with the fiber-optic signs experienced a speed reduction significant at the 95 percent level. Several of the other sites also experienced decreases in speeds; however, these decreases were not statistically significant.