The Safe Streets Nova Scotia (Mi'kma'ki) Network
Canada
The Safe Streets Nova Scotia (Mi'kma'ki) Network
Children and youth across Nova Scotia (Mi’kma’ki) deserve to have safe streets to live, play and learn on. But a focus on cars as the dominant way to move around and between communities has robbed our children of safe spaces to be children. As a consequence, active mobility for children has declined dramatically, with only 16% of children and youth walking or wheeling to and from school in Nova Scotia, compared to 24% elsewhere in Canada (source: Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Survey 2018/19).
The Safe Streets Nova Scotia network seeks to better understand patterns of traffic in and around the places where children might be expected to be – our school zones – and to identify suitable locations for implementing School Streets projects with the greatest opportunity for impact.
What are School Streets?
School Streets are a type of intervention that creates a car-free environment in front of schools during drop-off and pick-up time. School Streets provide a safe space for children to walk or wheel to or from school. Restricting traffic on the streets around a school can alleviate congestion and make streets safer. School Streets that have been implemented in other cities have demonstrated that the intervention reduces traffic on the surrounding streets and can curb dangerous driving behaviours.
As part of this initiative, we want to measure traffic volumes on or around potential School Streets sites using a small traffic monitoring device. This device can automatically count the number of cars, people on bikes and people walking past the counter (as well as seven other different road user types).
We're inviting residents, businesses and organizations, who are in close proximity to a school, to host a device, subject to meeting the technical requirements outlined below.
Technical Requirements:
The sensors need to be installed indoors and are mounted on the inside of a window that looks out at the street. Generally, the technical requirements include:
• A clear view (no curtains, no shutters, no big trees etc.) of the street
• 1st / 2nd floor positioning so that there is a good vantage point
• Not too far from the street (max. +-15m)
• The camera needs to be aimed at the middle of the road
• Not near traffic lights or junctions
• No movement not related to traffic (e.g., banners, signs or flags)
• Have power from a nearby socket
The data we are collecting are open to everyone and you can see on the map approximately where the devices are located (although not the specific address) and what the volume of cars, larger vehicles, people walking and people cycling is at any given time or date. Traffic is counted anonymously, and no identifiable images or videos are saved or transferred from the devices.
If you have any questions or queries or would like to know more, please contact safestreetsns@dal.ca
If you would like to host a device and meet the technical requirements above, please complete the form below.