North Carolina School Crossing Guard Training Program

Introduction
As traffic continues to increase on North Carolina’s streets and highways, concern has grown over the safety of our children as they walk to and from school. At the same time, health agencies, alarmed at the increase in obesity and inactivity among children, are encouraging parents and communities to get their children walking and biking to school. In response, the Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation funded a study on pedestrian issues, including school zone safety, and decided to establish a consistent training program for law enforcement officers responsible for school crossing guards. According to the office of the North Carolina Attorney General, school crossing guards may be considered traffic control officers when proper training is provided as specified in GS 20-114.1.

Background
In 1998, the Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation (DBPT) developed a program to train local law enforcement officers who are responsible for training school crossing guards in their respective jurisdictions. Funded by the Governor’s Highway Safety Program, this initiative arose from the need to reduce crashes in school zones.

Once the course was developed, DBPT sponsored two pilot workshops in Winston-Salem and Fayetteville. Participants in those workshops provided feedback and suggestions that were then incorporated into the course, which was last updated in 1999.

With the revised course in place, DBPT sponsored training workshops for school officials and law enforcement offices responsible for training crossing guards in various locations across the state. Seventy-six officer-trainers were trained from these 42 different jurisdictions: