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Behavioral Components of Vehicular and Pedestrian Traffic Patterns There are approximately 15-20 Orange High students walking or cycling to school. On-site observations noted several high school pedestrians walking through the practice football field to the nearby neighborhood. Field staff noted the following travel norms for Orange High: Motorist behavior was observed as poor. Many drivers park on the side of the road to avoid the afternoon car queue and make illegal U-turns in the road, creating safety concerns for students and other drivers. Parents also cut into the car queue, park in visitor spots, and park in the woods causing a lot of potential for accidents. Other traffic speeds through the school zone. The car queue in the morning is short with relatively little to no queuing. Sometimes traffic turning left into the school causes a small back up of no more than 5 cars, but clears quickly. The car queue in the afternoon is heavier, however,there is no backup onto Orange High School Road. Approximately 10-15 cars park on the side of Orange High School to avoid waiting in the car queue. Cars park on both sides of the road and make a U-turn in the road to leave. Students walk out to the cars, sometimes crossing the street. Field staff observed a near miss between a vehicle and student. Students walking to and from school cut across the practice football field to walk from the nearby neighborhood. Town of Hillsborough staff noted that students walk from the school to the nearby Walgreens via an existing informal pedestrian path through the woods. Existing Infrastructure - Strengths Few strengths were noted due to the lack of pedestrian and bicycle facilities.The following observations were noted as existing system strengths: + Sidewalks in the immediate vicinity of the school are adequate. Existing infrastructure - Deficiencies There are multiple issues related to infrastructure deficiency and traffic issues that warrant improvement, create safety hazards, and prevent children from walking and cycling to school safely. Key weaknesses, barriers, and obstacles include the following: The high speeds and high traffic volume along US 70 presents a serious safety threat for pedestrians and bicyclists. There are no crosswalks or pedestrian signage in the vicinity of the school. There are no pedestrian or bicycle facilities found on adjacent roadways and there is no sidewalk connectivity to nearby neighborhoods.Table 2.8 summarizes key locations where insufficient infrastructure creates barriers to pedestrians and bicyclists. Safe Routes to School Orange County,North Carolina 4S