Crossing Guards
The City’s Crossing Guard Program is administered by LADOT’s Parking Enforcement and Traffic Control Division with the support of the District Engineers. Crossing guards are a valuable engineering and education resource to enhance the safety of students, specifically those walking and cycling in school zones. Crossing guards, deployed to school crossings across the City of Los Angeles, provide experience and judgment to help children negotiate a school crossing, while also increasing the visibility of their presence to drivers.
Crossing guards are a valuable engineering and education resource, among other SRTS toolkit solutions, to enhance the safety of students, specifically those walking and cycling in school zones.
Crossing guards, deployed to school crossings across the City of Los Angeles, provide experience and judgment to help children negotiate a school crossing, while also increasing the visibility of their presence to drivers.
Currently, the number of crossing guard requests exceeds the number of available guards. Given limited resources, crossing guards will be assigned to locations where they can provide the greatest benefit to children crossing, while reducing risk of collisions. Engineers consider the following engineering factors such as traffic control type (e.g. uncontrolled crosswalk, traffic signal, stop sign), speed limit, number of vehicle lanes, presence of left turning movements, and number of students crossing to determine each requested crossing’s eligibility and to rank order locations for assigned Guards.
Requested Location Eligibility & Prioritization Factors
Locations with uncontrolled crosswalks are typically the locations with the greatest need for a crossing guard. Locations controlled by traffic signals are of next greatest need, followed by locations controlled by stop signs in all directions.
Once a crossing is deemed eligible for a guard and ranked, the Crossing Guard Program will determine if there is a guard available to be deployed for the year.
LADOT accepts requests from public, private, and parochial school administrators, and the LAUSD Office of Environmental Health and Safety (OEHS). LADOT will not accept requests from the public.
Steps to Request a Crossing Guard
1. Use the fill-able PDF format letter (click here) to prepare your request. Place the request on your school or LAUSD letterhead, save as a PDF, and email:
• LAUSD schools: submit to your respective OEHS rep
• Non-LAUSD schools: submit to Lieutenant Michelle Jackson at email michelle.jackson@lacity.org, and must include “Crossing Guard Request” in the email subject line.
2. The District Engineers analyze the requested crossings to determine its eligibility for a guard and determine its rank order. The District Engineer will email the requester a Response Letter #1 to confirm the location’s eligibility. LADOT will not provide the location ranking. The Crossing Guard Program will then email the requester a Response Letter #2 to confirm if a guard is or is not available to staff the ranked crossing
3. As new guards are hired, the Crossing Guard Program, responsible for guard recruitment and training, will deploy guards to the highest ranked, eligible and unstaffed location.
4. LADOT refreshes the rank order of eligible crossings at the end of each school year to inform guard deployment assignments for the following school year. LADOT will provide notification of changes to guard assignments. While LADOT accepts requests throughout the school year, the department will make every effort not to re-assign Guards during the year.
LADOT is not currently accepting applications for new Crossing Guards. Please click here for the Crossing Guard Recruitment/Application Form. Email the completed Form to the appropriate regional contact (contact information included on the Form).
