SPOKANE, Wash. — A driving app called ZenDrive studied the streets around 125,000 schools across the country and graded how safe drivers' behaviors are around each school.
The grades range from A to F, broken down by school, county or state.
ZenDrive is an app that tracks drivers' behaviors and is used by insurance companies, fleets and individual drivers to promote safe driving habits. They used anonymous data from the app's users to determine the school zone safety ratings.
The study did not take into account every driver around the schools – just the ones who already use the app.
Based on the 2018 study, Washington's road safety ranked 13th best and Idaho's ranked 11th best in the country.
In Spokane County, ZenDrive gave two F grades: one to School to Life on Sprague Avenue and another to Libby Center on First Avenue. In Kootenai County, Twin Lakes Elementary received an F grade.
An 'F' means drivers around these schools performed a number of dangerous driving actions, including aggressive acceleration, hard braking, speeding and cellphone use.
More than a dozen schools received D grades in Spokane County. Some of those include: Mount Spokane High School, Riverpoint Academy, Madison Elementary, Rogers High School, Shadle Park High School, North Central High School, All Saints Academy, Lincoln Heights Elementary and Central Valley High School.
Only two schools in Kootenai County received a D grade: Coeur d'Alene High School and Dalton Elementary.
Overall, Spokane County got a C grade and Kootenai County got a B.
Despite the handful of bad grades, a large portion of the schools received good grades.
ZenDrive also gave some tips on what children should do to stay safe while walking in school zones, including avoiding distractions from phones or headphones, crossing at crosswalks, staying on sidewalks and wearing bright clothes if it’s dark.
Spokane police say there are several photo enforcement cameras that will begin issuing infractions starting Aug. 29:
Southbound 5714 N Ash St. at Ridgeview Elementary
Northbound N. Maple Street at Ridgeview Elementary
Southbound N. Nevada Street at Longfellow Elementary School
Eastbound W. Northwest Blvd. at Finch Elementary School
Southbound N. Monroe Street at Willard Elementary