THESIS ABSTRACT

Abstract

Road traffic crashes are a leading cause of death among children worldwide. School zones in rapidly urbanizing municipalities such as Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City, Nepal, remain particularly hazardous due to high vehicle speeds, inadequate pedestrian infrastructure, and weak enforcement. This study assessed the safety of school zones in Dhangadhi using the Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) methodology developed by the International Road Assessment Program (iRAP), and the findings were combined with stakeholder-driven multi-criteria decision analysis using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to develop practical, Cost-effective safety recommendations. Six schools were selected to represent both arterial and sub-arterial roads across primary, secondary, and senior secondary levels. Primary data were collected on-site following the SR4S Coding Guide. Fifteen experts were selected for AHP-based pairwise comparisons. Using SR4S, nine interventions were simulated to identify their effectiveness. AHP rankings were then compared against SR4S effectiveness rankings for each school. Current star ratings ranged from 1.0 to 3.0 stars, indicating that five of the six school zones were unsafe for child pedestrians, with schools on arterial roads showing consistently lower ratings due to higher traffic volumes and operating speeds. Simulation results showed that reduced speed to 30 km/h with a crossing supervisor produced the most consistent improvement in star ratings across schools. However, crossing supervisors were critical for primary schools; speed humps alone achieved the minimum 3.5-star threshold at the lowest cost on sub-arterial roads, and parking restrictions were important for arterial-road schools. AHP results showed strong alignment with SR4S rankings. The study concludes that combining evidence-based SR4S assessment with AHP prioritization provides a robust and replicable framework for identifying context-sensitive school zone safety interventions. It recommends enforcing 30 km/h speed limits through speed-calming measures, arranging crossing supervisors at all schools, and upgrading pedestrian crossings on high-traffic arterial roads as cost-effective safety interventions for the selected schools in Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City.

Keywords

School zone safety, Star Rating for Schools (SR4S), iRAP, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), pedestrian safety