1. New Jersey Crossing Guard Training

2. Introduction Why We Need Crossing Guards Goals of the Training Program
Primary Responsibilities
Duties
Shall, Should, May

3. Why We Need Crossing Guards
Children are encouraged to walk and bike to school, but their limitations expose them to risks.
Children are encouraged to walk and bike to school, but their bodies and their brains are not fully developed which exposes them to risks when crossing the street.

4. Why We Need Crossing Guards
Leading causes of injury-related death for children ages 5 to 14 nationwide:
1. motor vehicle crashes
2. pedestrian injury
Shift from 1969 and 2009:
% walked or biked to school
12% driven to school
% walked or biked to school
44% driven to school
(U.S. DOT, 2009)
Nationwide, pedestrian injury is the second leading cause of injury-related death for children ages 5 to 14 behind motor vehicle crashes.
Although death and injury rates have declined dramatically for this group over the past four decades, this trend may reflect the decrease in the number of students walking to school.
Between 1969 and 2009, the percentage of children aged 5-14 who walked and biked to school dropped from 48% to 13%. Children bused rose 1% to 39%, and the percentage of children driven to school rose from 12% to 44%.
More cars on the road results in more hazards for pedestrians.

5. Why We Need Crossing Guards
Until age 9 or 10, children lack the motor and cognitive skills required to safely cross streets.
Motorists are distracted over 50% of the time they are driving.
Lack of focus can lead to driving errors
When children are walking and biking to school, they need help with crossing streets safely and learning correct street crossing behavior.
Read slide and explain:
“Motor skills” refers to learned movements and how our bodies respond to accomplish a task.
“Cognitive skills” refers to memory, judgment and reasoning.

6. Goals of the Training Program
The goal of this training program is to teach crossing guards how to safely cross students.
Read slide.

7. Primary Responsibilities
Crossing Guards:
Provide safe crossings of the roadways.
Model correct street skills and behavior for child pedestrians.
A crossing guard’s prime duty is to assist children in crossing the street at assigned times and locations. Crossing guards also serve as community role models for correct pedestrian behavior.

8. Characteristics of Young Children
Children do not naturally know how to be safe in traffic and, until the age of 9 or 10, children lack the physical skills and mental awareness required to safely navigate difficult traffic situations.
Note to Supervisor: The video “Children in Traffic” may be shown when discussing this topic. The video can be ordered from AAA at:
The video is also available on Youtube at

9. Characteristics of Young Children
Children see and understand things differently from adults.
Children:
narrower field of vision
eye level is lower than an adult
view may be easily blocked
Children see differently than adults. They have a narrower field of vision, only two-thirds that of an adult. In addition, their eye level is lower than that of an adult and their view may be more easily blocked.
The crossing guard’s job is to see the danger that a child can not see.
© 2010, the State of Florida Department of Transportation

10. Characteristics of Young Children
Smaller, not as easily seen by drivers
Believe “if I can see it – it can see me.”
Children are smaller in stature and are not as easily seen by drivers. However, children believe “if I can see it – it can see me” and may step into the street expecting traffic to stop.
A driver’s sight lines of the sidewalk may be obscured by parked cars, bushes or trees, mail boxes, benches, etc. A child may not realize that approaching vehicles can not see him or her.

11. Characteristics of Young Children
Children hear differently – difficulty knowing where sounds are coming from
Children hear differently; they cannot determine the source of sounds or direction of sounds. They may hear a car or truck but may not know what direction the vehicle is coming from and will step into a street. They may also be distracted by the sounds of children talking or horns honking.
© 2010, the State of Florida Department of Transportation

12. Characteristics of Young Children
cannot judge motor vehicle speed & distance
do not recognize danger because of limited traffic experience
Children cannot judge speed and distance of motor vehicles. A child may see a car approaching but will not know if there is or is not time to cross the street safely.
Their lack of traffic experience limits their ability to recognize dangerous situations. They may assume that a car will automatically stop at a crosswalk or that once one car stops, all approaching cars will stop.
© 2010, the State of Florida Department of Transportation

13. Characteristics of Young Children
focus on one thing at a time
may not give street crossing full attention
will complete any motion they start including crossing the street
Children tend to focus on one thing at a time. This could be the ball they are bouncing or who they are going to play with after school. That one thought may not be the traffic they are crossing.
In addition, a child’s focus can shift quickly from one thought to another, or from one object to another, such as from the approaching car to someone walking a dog.
Children will complete any motion they start. If a child follows a bouncing ball into the street and sees a car approaching the child will tend to continue after the ball.
© 2010, the State of Florida Department of Transportation

14. Characteristics of Young Children
think they can do more than they are able to do
are spontaneous & curious
believe they can run faster or change direction faster than is possible
do not understand “Left” and “Right”
Children overestimate their abilities. They may believe that they can run faster or change direction faster than they physically can. This belief may cause them to take chances with oncoming traffic, for instance, running across the street even though they know a car is approaching.

15. Characteristics of Young Children
Children follow what other people do, whether good or bad.
If a child or adult practices poor behavior while crossing an intersection, other children learn that behavior. We see this most often when parents cross inappropriately and the child follows.
The crossing guard must model proper crossing procedures each and every time children are crossing so that children know what is expected of them. Furthermore, crossing guards should model proper pedestrian behavior at all times and in all places. You never know who’s watching.

16. Characteristics of Teenagers
Teenagers tend not to listen to crossing guards.
Explain to crossing guards what they should do. Is it their responsibility to stop people from crossing away from the crosswalk?
With students looking at their cell phones and stepping into the street, crossing guards report putting an arm out to stop them.

17. Characteristics of Young Children
With education, children’s traffic skills can improve
Need assistance until they have gained these skills
With education, children’s traffic skills can improve.
Until they have gained competency, they need assistance. Crossing guards provide this assistance and model appropriate crossing behavior.

18. Traffic Laws and Regulations
Laws, Regulations, Policies
Stop and Stay Stopped
Yield to Pedestrians
Crosswalks
Motor Vehicle Laws
School Zone
Pedestrian Laws
Bicyclist Laws

19. Shall, Should, May
Practices that are required, mandatory, or specifically prohibited use the verb “shall” or “must.”
Practices that are recommended, but not mandatory, use the verb “should.”
Optional practices use the verb “may.”
Shall or Must = required
Should = recommended
May = optional

20. Crosswalk Defined
Every intersection has a crosswalk whether marked or unmarked.
The law clearly defines what a crosswalk is:
39:1-1: “Crosswalk” means that part of a highway at an intersection, either marked or unmarked existing at each approach of every roadway intersection, included within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the highway measured from the curbs or, in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the shoulder, or, if none, from the edges of the roadway; also, any portion of a highway at an intersection or elsewhere distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by lines or other marking on the surface.
Every intersection has a crosswalk, whether marked or unmarked.
NJSA 39:1-1

21. “Marked Crosswalk”
[Note to Supervisor: this slide has animation.]
This graphic illustrates that crosswalks exist at every intersection.
We can have the “marked” crosswalk which has some type of paint or striping that indicate the crosswalk whether it be parallel lines or more high visibility markings such as continental , ladder, or zebra striped.
But even where the crosswalk is not marked, there is a “unmarked” crosswalk which is defined as the continuation of the sidewalk or curb edge.
If not marked, crosswalks are continuations of the sidewalks or curb/edge of roadway across the intersection.

22. Pedestrians and Vehicles
Stop and Stay Stopped Law
Motorists must stop and stay stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross the roadway in a marked crosswalk, when the pedestrian is in the half of the roadway where the vehicle is traveling or onto which it is turning. 
In order to reduce confusion and clarify that yielding to pedestrians in a crosswalk requires the driver to stop their vehicle, the law was changed in April 2010 to educate drivers that they must stop and stay stopped for pedestrians in a marked crosswalk.

23. Pedestrians and Vehicles
Yield to Pedestrian Law
Motorists must yield to a pedestrian crossing the roadway in any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.
At an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, motorists must yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk. Every intersection has a crosswalk, whether marked or unmarked.
Except:
At crosswalks where police or traffic signals control traffic, or
Where otherwise regulated by the municipality, county, or state, or
Where a pedestrian tunnel or overhead pedestrian crossing has been provided
yield – road user must prepare to slow or stop if necessary to let another user on another approach proceed. This is different from a stop sign which requires a road user to stop completely before proceeding, even if no other user is present.

24. Pedestrians and Vehicles
Drivers making a right turn on red or at a “stop” sign must stop and stay stopped for pedestrians
Motorists turning at signals must stop for pedestrians. Even when they have a green light when making a right or left turn they must stop and stay stopped for any pedestrian in the crosswalk.
NJSA 39:4-115

25. Pedestrians and Vehicles
Pedestrians shall not cross a road against the "stop" or red signal at a crosswalk.
Pedestrians have to obey traffic control at signalized locations.
The law also states they shall not start crossing the street in front of a car where it would be impossible for a car to stop.
Pedestrians shall not walk into the path of a vehicle which is so close that the driver can not yield or stop.
NJSA 39:4-32

26. Pedestrians and Vehicles
If a pedestrian is not within a marked or unmarked crosswalk then he or she must yield the right-of-way to all vehicles on the road.
Pedestrians have the right to cross the street at locations away from crosswalks, they simply have to grant the right-of-way to the motorists. This means that they can not cross until it is safe to do so and should not impede motorists (since the motorist has the ROW at places other than crosswalks). This is not “jaywalking”. You can imagine a suburban community with very infrequent crossings where it would be unreasonable to expect pedestrians to walk a half mile for a crossing. However, it is reasonable to expect them to yield to cars before trying to cross.
An important provision of the law is that motorists are obligated to stay stopped for pedestrians that have started to cross during the walk phase of a signal. Motorists are not allowed to start moving, even with the green signal, if a pedestrian is still within the crosswalk when the signal changes. Such a situation may arise at locations with inadequate pedestrian signal timing or involving the mobility-impaired.
A pedestrian crossing or starting across on a “go” or green signal who is still in the crosswalk when the signal changes, has the right of way until reaching the opposite curb or place of safety.
NJSA 39:4-32

27. Motor Vehicle Laws
The STOP paddle is an official sign under New Jersey law. Motorists must obey signals from the STOP paddle held by school crossing guards.
Motorists can be ticketed for failure to stop for a crossing guard using a STOP paddle.
The fine for a first offense is $150.00, subsequent offense fines are not less than $ NJSA 39:4-80.1
NJSA 39:1-1

28. School Zone
Motorists must obey posted speed limits and be attentive and cautious when pedestrians are present, or likely to be present, especially in school zones.
This is reinforced by the “due care” provision of the law which states motorists must drive cautiously around young pedestrians. Reduced speed limit in school zones also reinforce the need to drive cautiously.
NJSA 39:4-98

29. School Zone
The speed limit is 25 mph in a school zone. The only exception is when a lower speed limit is posted.
The speed limit is 25 mph in a school zone
during recess
when children are clearly visible from the roadway, or
while children are going to or leaving school (during opening or closing hours).
The only exception is when a lower speed limit is posted.
NJSA 39:4-98

30. School Zone
Other signs may be in force in school zones. Be aware of restrictions on motor vehicle activity at your post.
When possible without interfering with crossing students, write down information on violators and notify your supervisor.