The effectiveness of School Street Closures: Impact evaluation

There are currently no published peer reviewed papers looking specifically at School Streets projects. I published a report collated from grey literature and interviews with local government officers (Davis, 2020) which examined the perception of displacement parking associated with School Streets.

An engineer from a Scottish local authority who were an early adopter of School Streets discussed the implementation and evaluation of those projects in her ENU TRI MSc dissertation (Monteith-Skelton, 2017). School Street projects are an area of research focus for a number of other organisations including Sustrans, whose funding has supporting the introduction of many schemes in Scotland and some in England and Wales. Sustrans continue to hold seminars on the topic including a webinar focusing on Road Safety and Traffic Displacement (Sustrans Scotland, 2022)

The area of barriers and attitudes towards active travel is widely researched with academics across High Income Countries examining decision making especially in the context of the potential health benefits that come from a physically active childhood enabled through active travel. Emerging from another ENU TRI MSc addressing school street closures (Underwood, 2023) was the conclusion that there remained unexplained factors in determining the difference in opinions between superficially similar locations. Further research is needed for a more detailed study to identify and control for additional variables to be able to provide further insight into individuals’ attitudes when potentially making changes for their own good and for the benefit of others within the context of the journey to school, and specifically where that journey has been regulated by the introduction of restrictions on behaviour (School Street Closures).

Most traffic and transport schemes rely on the basic principle that the majority of road users will comply with signed restrictions (Speed Limits, Weight restrictions, Cycle lanes etc) as it is not practical, feasible or desirable to use physical measures to enforce compliance. In the current changing transport landscape where the Scottish government is planning to regulate for wider use of 20mph speed limits (most without physical measures - and Wales has recently done so through a default national 20mph speed limit in place of 30mph) and exert greater influence on reducing use of the private car in favour of active travel, understanding individual’s attitudes towards these types of restriction, and how they are likely to be behave will help inform the delivery of such measures.

Consequently, this subject is ripe for exploration and the contribution that a PhD candidate could make to expanding the current slim knowledge base with more rigorous research. It would also add value to ENU and TRI through hosting such PhD research.

Academic qualifications

A first-class honours degree, or a distinction at master level, or equivalent achievements in transport planning or engineering or they could have a Psychology degree given a likely focus on understanding human behaviour.

English language requirement

If your first language is not English, comply with the University requirements for research degree programmes in terms of English language.

Application process

Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact the supervisor, Dr. Adrian Davis (A.Davis@napier.ac.uk) to discuss the content of the project and the fit with their qualifications and skills before preparing an application. 

Contact details

Should you need more information, please email SCEBERDL@napier.ac.uk.

The application must include: 

Research project outline of 2 pages (list of references excluded). The outline may provide details about

• Background and motivation, explaining the importance of the project, should be supported also by relevant literature. You can also discuss the applications you expect for the project results.
• Research questions or
• Methodology: types of data to be used, approach to data collection, and data analysis methods.
• List of references

The outline must be created solely by the applicant. Supervisors can only offer general discussions about the project idea without providing any additional support.

• Statement no longer than 1 page describing your motivations and fit with the project.
• Recent and complete curriculum vitae. The curriculum must include a declaration regarding the English language qualifications of the candidate.
• Supporting documents will have to be submitted by successful candidates.
• Two academic references (but if you have been out of education for more than three years, you may submit one academic and one professional reference), on the form can be downloaded here.

Applications can be submitted here.

Download a copy of the project details here.