City revisits crossing-guard criteria after parents raise safety concerns
London is set to re-examine how it decides where to station its 106 school crossing guards, with a staff report recommending the first comprehensive review of the program's placement criteria since 2013. The report is scheduled for consideration by the Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee (ICSC) this week before a potential recommendation to full city council.
The review responds to direction from city council last summer to examine the school crossing guard program and identify improvements. City staff say a formal look at the criteria that determine whether an intersection qualifies for a crossing guard is now required so decisions better reflect current traffic patterns, school catchments and community needs.
Parents describe risky routes near school
For many families, changes to guard placement cannot come soon enough. Several parents in neighbourhoods such as Huron Heights have told city officials they worry children must negotiate unsupervised crossings en route to school. One mother, who lives in Huron Heights and has four children, described situations where vehicles did not stop and children crossed without looking.
“We would really like to be able to trust that our kids are going to be safe and get to school without being hit by a car,”
she said, speaking about her neighbourhood where her eldest attends Evelyn Harrison Public School on Tewksbury Crescent. While a crossing guard is posted at the crosswalk that leads directly to the school, she pointed out that pupils also face other nearby intersections that are not staffed.
What the review could examine
The staff report does not list specific intersection changes in public excerpts, but the review will likely reassess criteria used to qualify locations for guards. That could include factors such as pedestrian volumes, vehicle speeds, sightlines, the number of school-age children using a crossing and the proximity of alternative supervised crossings.
- Existing guards: 106 across London
- Last full criteria review: 2013
- Council direction: review requested last summer
- Next step: ICSC consideration before possible council approval
Officials will need to weigh the costs and logistics of adding guards against expectations from families who want greater supervision on routes to school. The city must balance resource constraints with the priority of keeping children safe, particularly where parents report drivers failing to yield at marked crosswalks.
Local consequences and the wider context
Any changes that result from the review could alter morning and afternoon routines for students across the city. Schools with short, unsupervised crossings nearby could see newly assigned guards, while other locations might be deprioritised if criteria or pedestrian counts change. The review's timing — the first in 13 years — reflects shifting neighbourhood demographics and evolving traffic conditions that staff say should inform modern placement decisions.
| Item | Data |
|---|---|
| Number of crossing guards | 106 |
| Last criteria review | 2013 |
| Council direction to review | Summer 2025 |
| Upcoming decision body | Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee |
The outcome of the committee meeting will determine whether staff move ahead with a formal review and, if approved, how quickly recommendations could be developed and implemented. For parents like the one from Huron Heights, the urgency is both practical and emotional: the desire to trust that children can walk to school without facing dangerous crossings.
As municipal staff prepare their recommendations, council members will hear from residents and community groups about where they see gaps in supervision. The process offers an opportunity to modernise a long-standing program and align guard placements with today's traffic realities and school travel patterns.
Residents who use school routes, school administrators and neighbourhood associations will likely follow the committee meeting closely for signals about potential changes to crossing guard assignments in London.
