School crossing

What it means

This sign marks an official crossing where children walk to and from school, usually patrolled or supervised during school hours. The pentagon shape and fluorescent yellow-green colour are unique to school-related warnings so that they stand apart from every other diamond on the road, even at distance and even for drivers seeing them for the first time. Children crossing here behave differently from adult pedestrians: they arrive in groups, move in bursts, and judge traffic poorly, and a driver approaching at adult-pedestrian speed assumptions will consistently misread the situation.

How it gets misread

The main misread is assuming the crossing is dormant outside school hours and driving through at full speed while children are still present for activities. Another is expecting crossing movements only at the marked point when children routinely arrive along the whole block.

What to do

Reduce speed for the whole school zone around the crossing, not just at the painted lines, and watch the sidewalks continuously during active hours. Stop well before the crossing when people are waiting or crossing, stay stopped until they are fully clear, and never overtake another vehicle that has stopped for the crossing, because your view of why it stopped is blocked.

Practise this rule

• School Zone Rules: Slow Down and Obey Guards

  You are driving through a school zone during arrival time with children walking nearby. What does the law require of you?

More warning signs

• Deer crossing →
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