The Effects of Picking Up Primary School Pupils on Surrounding Street’sTraffic: A Case Study in Hanoi

Introduction:One of the significant characteristics of schools in Vietnam is that almost all parents send their children to school and/or pick up their children fromschool using private vehicles (motorcycles). The parents usually stop and park their vehicle on streets outside the school gates, which can lead toserious congestion and increases the likelihood of traffic accidents. Methods:The objective of this study is to find out factors affecting the picking up of pupils at primary school by evaluating the typical primary schools inHanoi city. A binary logistic regression model was used to determine factors that influence the decision of picking up pupils and the waitingduration of parents. The behavior of motorcyclists during the process of picking up pupils at the primary school gate has been identified andanalyzed in detail by the Kinovea software. Results and Discussion:The study showed that, on the way back home, almost all parents use motorbikes (89.15%) to pick up their children. During their waiting time(8.48 minutes in average), they made a lot of illegal parking actions on the street there by, causing a lot of “cognitive” errors and “crash” pointssurrounding in front of the primary school entrance gate. Risky picking-up behaviors were significantly observed, i.e. picking-up on opposite sideof the school, making a U-turn, backing-up dangerously, parking on the middle of street, and parking on the street next to sidewalk). Conclusion:Based on the analyzed results, several traffic management measures have been suggested to enhance traffic safety and reduce traffic congestion infront of school gates. In addition, the results of the study will provide a useful reference for policymakers and authorities