Advocacy and Star Rating for Schools project sees first 20km/h school zone in Azerbaijan

Over the past year, the National Automobile Club of Azerbaijan (AMAK) has been working with support from EASST, FIA Foundation and FIA Road Safety Grants Programme to improve road safety around school No. 4 in the city of Sumgayit, Azerbaijan.

School No. 4 was identified by local Traffic Police as being of particular concern. AMAK visited the school several times, building links with the staff, parents, and children who go there. Together they talked about the safety risks around the schools and conducted a series of evaluations. An initial Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) assessment of three locations around the school resulted in minimal Star Ratings of between 1 and 2 stars. AMAK also conducted a Mobility Snapshot as part of the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety campaign to better understand how pedestrians use the area and their exposure to risk as well as a version of Zeeger's Traffic Conflict Analysis through which they recorded over 1200 conflicts in a seven day period, including over 250 that were categorized as moderate or severe.

The assessments found that there was no designated speed limit (though 40km/h is generally the accepted speed for school zones) and no infrastructure to support pedestrian safety or manage traffic, putting the 2200 students that attend School No. 4, along with the students also attending two nearby schools, at serious risk.

AMAK used the results of these assessments to prepare a set of recommendations based on international best practice approaches to address the main infrastructural issues and lower speeds. These included the construction of a sidewalk (complete with ramps for accessibility), the installation of clear signage, creating a pedestrian crossing in front of the school entrance with speed bumps either side to slow traffic, and placing bollards to prevent parking directly in front of the school, as well as lowering the speed limit to at least 30km/h.

AMAK has been working for several years, with EASST support, to promote the importance of 30km/h speed limits around school zones. They were therefore able to build their case for reduced speeds and improved infrastructure at School No. 4 by pointing to the high levels of risk assessed at the school and previous work in Sumgayit where speed limit reductions around schools have been hugely successful in reducing crashes.

In collaboration with the Traffic Police and Sumayit City Authorities, it was agreed that speeds along the entire road would be reduced to an unprecedented 20km/h and all the recommended changes would be installed.

Thus, in late 2024, a follow-up Star Ratings for School assessment was undertaken and the area in front of the main school entrance was given a new rating of 4.6 stars, demonstrating a truly remarkable transformation. Follow up Traffic Conflict Analysis also found a hugely reduced rate of conflict after the intervention.

In addition to the physical changes around the school, AMAK has been working with the police and the school community to promote safe road behaviours.

Moving forward, it is AMAK’s aim to make road safety interventions such as this the norm within the country’s road engineering standards so that every child has the opportunity to travel to and from school in safety and without risk.