Evaluación del riesgo vial en entornos escolares: diagnóstico de seguridad vial para los usuarios más vulnerables

Road traffic accidents are one of the leading causes of death and injury among young people worldwide, disproportionately affecting pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, groups that include school-age populations. In Costa Rica, the limited systematic evidence on road safety in school environments and the lack of instruments adapted to the national context hinder the technical prioritization of investments and decision-making aimed at protecting the most vulnerable users.

This project proposes to assess road risk in school environments by adapting and applying the Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) methodology of iRAP, with the purpose of producing comparable diagnostics and a prioritized plan of technical and management interventions in road safety.

The research will be developed in four phases. Phase 1 will adapt the SR4S selection and prioritization procedure to the Costa Rican context and produce an operational protocol together with the training of technical teams. Phase 2 will carry out national prioritization by integrating secondary data (crash records, school enrollment, road network and sociodemographic variables) into a GIS and applying spatial analyses and a multi-criteria matrix to select a stratified sample. Phase 3 comprises field evaluation, instrumental measurements of traffic flows and operating speeds, surveys of the school community, segment-based SR4S coding and statistical and spatial analysis, together with countermeasure simulations on the SR4S platform. Phase 4 will design prioritized intervention packages (impact simulation, cost estimation and cost–effectiveness analysis) and implement pilots to validate effectiveness and feasibility.

Operational hypotheses will address socioeconomic disparities and the relationship between the quality of pedestrian infrastructure and higher SR4S ratings. Expected outputs include: an operational protocol for school selection and prioritization; a consolidated GIS database; SR4S data sheets and georeferenced photographic records; classification maps and a national ranking; a prioritized intervention plan with indicators and cost estimates; and implementation pilots.

This project will deliver the first systematic, nationally adapted application of SR4S in Costa Rica, generating technical evidence to guide public investment, strengthen institutional capacities (MEP, COSEVI, and municipalities) and facilitate the scaling and sustainability of a national school road-safety program.

Evaluar el nivel de riesgo vial en entornos escolares mediante la aplicación adaptada de la metodología “Star Rating for Schools – iRAP”, con el fin de priorizar intervenciones técnicas y de gestión para reducir la vulnerabilidad de los usuarios de la infraestructura vial.

Infraestructura vial, seguridad vial