LA DOT adopts data-driven crossing guard deployment; volunteer program left to LAUSD

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) presented a revised, data-driven methodology for assigning school crossing guards and the Transportation Committee approved LADOT's recommendations and asked for additional report backs before the 2025–26 school year.

LADOT Assistant General Manager Tom Carranza told the committee the new approach “prioritizes the highest need schools” by expanding an existing school-safety ranking to include intersection control, prevailing vehicle speeds, pedestrian volumes and turning movements. The department said it would sort prioritized elementary schools by parking-enforcement area and identify priority intersections within a 1,000-foot radius of each school.

Why it matters: The change moves deployment from a request-based model — where principals request guards and LADOT evaluates them individually — to a holistic assessment intended to direct limited crossing-guard resources where objective data indicate the greatest need.

Under the proposed methodology, LADOT will: generate a citywide ranking of elementary schools using safety, equity and mode-share metrics that the city already employs for other school-safety investments; identify priority intersections within a 1,000-foot radius of each school; and assign guards within the existing enforcement-area boundaries…