Watch for Children

Policy

Watch for Children signs will be installed upon citizen request. Signs will be limited to local residential streets with generally 500 vehicles per day or less. Only one sign per direction, per block will be installed.

For uniformity, only the legend "Watch For Children" will be considered. "Children at Play" or "Slow Children" signs will not be allowed.

Rationale

Watch for Children signs are not recommended. No factual evidence has been presented to document the success of signs warning of children in reducing pedestrian accidents, operating speeds, or legal liability. Studies have shown that many types of signs attempting to warn of normal conditions in residential areas have failed to achieve the desired safety benefits. If signs encourage parents and children to believe they have an added degree of protection, which the signs do not and cannot provide, a disservice may result.

Placement of such signs on collector and arterial roadways may lead to sign clutter and distract from the effectiveness of important regulatory signs. They shall therefore only be allowed on low volume roadways.

Procedure

The party requesting Watch For Children signs should contact the Public Works Director. The Director will review the request and determine if the street is eligible and if so, suggest a location for the sign. That location will generally be near the beginning of the block. The requesting party may be contacted to discuss options. The requester will then be required to get the written approval of the property owner(s) abutting the location of the sign.