Motorists cruising through the half-mile-long gauntlet of 11 crosswalk signs and four crosswalks along Central Valley Road near Fairview Junior High School now have one more type of pedestrian safety gear to remind them to keep an eye out for children: two kid-sized “knock-down” signs at the two Conifer Drive crosswalks.

The roadway has long been a trouble spot for pedestrian traffic, especially students.

The signs, which can bend if struck, are one of the improvements made to the stretch of Central Valley Road between Fairgrounds Road and Foster Road this school year to boost pedestrian safety.

Kitsap County identified some areas of the road that could be made safer and worked with the Central Kitsap School District to make the changes.

“We’re putting them in the roadway with the county’s approval during times when kids are crossing and then we remove them when we’re not using the crosswalk,” Joe Vlach, director of operations for the Central Kitsap School District, said of the signs.

Vlach briefed school board members about the signs during a recent school board meeting.

“There’s a sleeve in the roadway,” he said. “We take the sign out, put it into the receptor and take it out when we’re not using it.”

Additional changes include the removal of a crosswalk that led into the school parking lot, increased reflectivity of crosswalk signs and the relocation of a street light.

The speed limit near the school is 20 mph, but rises to 35 mph a short distance away.

Pedestrian safety has been an issue along the road.

In December 2012, a 17-year-old girl was seriously injured when she was struck by a motorist while walking along Central Valley Road near Fairview.

At least seven collisions involving pedestrians and one involving a bicyclist have occurred on Central Valley Road just in the space between Woodlands Elementary and Fairview Junior High since 2001. Six of those collisions occurred in the morning at or before 7:30 a.m., a time when students are walking to school, often in the dark.