  Citation: Renard, A.; Novaˇ cko, L.; Babojeli´ c, K.; Kožul, N. Analysis of Child Traffic Safety near Primary School Areas Using UAV Technology. Sustainability 2022, 14, 1144. https:// doi.org/10.3390/su14031144 Academic Editors: Aleksandra Deluka-Tibljaš, Irena Ištoka Otkovi´ c and Sanja Šurdonja Received: 10 December 2021 Accepted: 17 January 2022 Published: 20 January 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). sustainability Article Analysis of Child Traffic Safety near Primary School Areas Using UAV Technology Anton Renard 1 , Luka Novaˇ cko 2, * , Karlo Babojeli´ c 2 and Nikola Kožul 3 1 School of Transportation Sciences, University of Hasselt, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium; renardanton@gmail.com 2 Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, University of Zagreb, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia; karlo.babojelic@fpz.unizg.hr 3 Ernst und Young Ltd., Guangzhou 510623, China; nikola.kozul29@gmail.com * Correspondence: luka.novacko@fpz.unizg.hr Abstract: Road safety in primary school areas is a delicate issue due to the vulnerability of children as road users. They are inexperienced traffic participants and sometimes their behavior in traffic situations is unpredictable. This paper reports a safety analysis conducted using video processing of conflict trajectories of vehicles and active transportation users (AT users). The videos were collected using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as this technology does not affect the actual behavior of traffic participants. Due to their airborne position, UAVs can conveniently gather information about driving behaviors and the exact positions of various participants. The safety analysis was conducted using surrogate indicators suitable for evaluating the risk of potential collisions as they incorporate both spatial proximity and speed. Three conflict indicators were used in the safety analysis: (i) time-to-collision, (ii) post-encroachment time, and (iii) heavy braking. The methodology was tested in a primary school area in the city of Zagreb. With the applied methodology, a total of 43 potential conflicts were identified in the school area (14 time-to-collision, 23 post-encroachment time, and 6 heavy braking). Based on the determined potential conflicts, safety measures were proposed to decrease the number and severity of potential conflicts and to increase traffic safety near school areas. Keywords: child traffic safety; school areas; unmanned aerial vehicles; surrogate safety indicators; road traffic safety analysis 1. Introduction This paper focuses on one of the busiest mixed-traffic environments: school areas. The main reason for this focus is the vulnerability of the traffic users in these areas, who are young children participating in mixed traffic. The main aim of the present paper was to develop a new methodology for the analysis of child safety in school zones using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and image detection technology. Child traffic safety was evaluated using surrogate safety indicators extracted from drone footage. The practical contribution of this work is reflected in the ability of local communities to analyze traffic safety near schools, identify priorities, and implement measures to increase traffic safety. School children are recognized as one of the groups most at risk of involvement in traffic accidents resulting in death or serious injury [1]. In the developed world, pedestrian accidents remainone of the greatest causes of injury, disability, and death [2]. In 2018, the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) published a report on child deaths on European roads, showing that one-third of all children killed on European roads were pedestrians [3]. For older child pedestrians, the majority of crashes occur during the daily commute to or from school and leisure activities [4]. The road safety of school areas is a very topical but sensitive issue. The reasons for this are twofold: school areas contain many vulnerable youngsters and experience chaotic Sustainability 2022, 14, 1144. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031144 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability