Initiative to promote ‘safer parking’ launched at Gorsey Bank

Safer Parking Around Schools Gorsey Bank Emily

Thirty-two road accidents occurred near schools across the borough in 2016/17. During the following year, the figure fell to 27, although four were serious and one fatal.

To address this, civil enforcement officers from Cheshire East Council, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service and Cheshire Constabulary have joined forces to tackle illegal, irresponsible and inconsiderate parking near schools and to promote road safety.

The first two schools to benefit from the initiative were Alderley Edge Community Primary and Gorsey Bank Primary in Wilmslow.

These visits from the partners are designed to prevent children being injured or killed by vehicles at school drop-off and collection times.

Schools in areas deemed at a higher risk and which have drawn up their own travel to school policies are being additionally supported with the presence of enforcement officers, firefighters and the police at promotional events which feature the lollipop signs.

As part of the safety campaign, 'Safer Parking at the School Gates', there are a series of nine cut-out images of children with lollipop signs with key safety messages.

These will be deployed across the borough at those schools where unsafe parking and driving have been highlighted as a particular high risk – giving key safety messages to drivers outside schools.

The message is also promoted within school to children in the hope that it informs and reminds parents to re-think their parking habits.

The messages include: 'Think before you park', 'Thank you for driving carefully'; 'No stopping here'; 'Caution children'; 'Slow down'; 'Drive slowly'; 'Don't park on the yellow lines'; 'Don't park on the zig zags' which are emblazed on the plastic signs.

Councillor Jos Saunders, cabinet member for children and families at Cheshire East Council, said: "One accident is one too many. We want to make sure all our school children are as safe as possible. This partnership initiative is designed to encourage motorists to think more about road safety and for parents and carers to park much more responsibly so that we can aim for accidents and deaths to be eliminated altogether across Cheshire East.

"This innovative approach is refreshing to see and I really like the nine lollipop signs, which all give a range of safety messages to the drivers. It's a great idea and we hope it will help to make a real difference and help to keep our children safe now and in the years to come."

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service road safety officer Andy Gray said: "Educating people about the dangers of parking near to schools is vital; by doing so we can help to change the attitudes and behaviour of motorist and create a safer environment for the children and road users around our schools."

Councillor Margaret Simon, Cheshire Fire Authority's road safety champion, said: "This excellent example of partnership working focusses on education rather than enforcement. Areas around schools are very busy places at drop-off and pick-up times, it is very easy to lose focus on road safety and to park inconsiderately or dangerously.

"We should all be doing everything we can to encourage safer parking near our schools to reduce the risk of accidents involving children. This scheme will certainly attract attention and deliver a positive message. I look forward to it being rolled out across a wider area."

Schools are also being encouraged to devise transport plans, which include physical ways to travel to school, for example, cycling or walking or using public transport as opposed to using a car. The schools will have access to funding to buy a set of lollipop signs.

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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Oliver Romain
Saturday 28th July 2018 at 8:25 pm
A practical measure would be to ticket cars that park on the zig zags at school drop off and pick up time. The parking warden says he can’t ticket on Gorsey Road zig zags because there is no ‘time signage’. Putting up a time sign would prevent the small minority of irresponsible parents who park on the zig zags at drop off.
Vince Chadwick
Wednesday 1st August 2018 at 3:38 pm
The police could ticket those who park on the zig-zags.

Now, just when is something going to done about the dangerous and inconsiderate parking on Alderley Rd and Buckingham Rd?

The Alderley Rd fiasco started when the builders constructing the new apartments parked there, then others caught on that there is no restriction despite it causing obstruction (which is in itself an offence).

If it takes double yellow lines, then lets have them!
David Smith
Wednesday 1st August 2018 at 5:13 pm
GENERALLY: The thinking now seems to be - "If there are no double yellow lines, I can park here as long as I want and if that means partly on the pavement then that's ok too! I won’t use my common-sense because I can get away with doing whatever I like." I've gone on about cycle lanes before but this philosophy is now applied to them as well, so cyclists can go and fend for themselves in the middle of the road. I'd like to know which tiny-brained person/s at Cheshire East or Cheshire Constabulary is responsible for allowing the parking situation in our area to become so out of order. These antisocial pain-in-the-arse parkers are getting up the noses of most of us around here and we pay our council tax to prevent this inconsiderate attitude. I suppose our first port of call has to be our local councillor. Can I remind everyone that we elect them and the next election isn't too far away - so vote the incumbent lot OUT and see what the next lot can do for us?
As for zigzags - here’s a link to throw some light on them: https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/2653821/park-double-yellow-line-uk-parking-laws/ and thanks to the SUN! WITE ZIGZAGS AND YELLOW ZIGZAGS, what confusion.
We have so many lines in our roads and too many road signs. All probably because of joining the EU - so Brexit will allow us to sort out that mess, won’t it? As for lines - why can’t we have a simple line that says ‘DO NOT PARK HERE ANYTIME, SO GO AWAY IMMEDIATELY.
Janet A Taylor
Wednesday 1st August 2018 at 5:22 pm
Totally agree!
Dangerous parking opposite the Coach and Four is an accident waiting to happen.
David Smith
Sunday 5th August 2018 at 11:56 pm
Reply to Oliver Romain: I passed Gorsey Bank school and observed the yellow zigzags. I also noticed a couple of time signs on posts so your comment that the warden couldn't ticket any motorists parked there would appear to be contradictory. I would suggest that white lines are preferable as the times only really cover standard pupil arrival/departure times and not other times such as a weekend sports event.
Pete Wright
Tuesday 14th August 2018 at 10:58 am
This is all well and good but also misleading as it implies cars are 'parking' near the schools, which isn't true, the problem if there is one is associated with parents dropping off children. So it's a schools/parents issue not a 'parking' problem. Made worse because parents don't seem willing to walk even a couple of minutes from a safer spot maybe a few hundred yards
away and insist on only dropping off as close to the school entrance as possible. The real parking problems in Wilmslow and Alderley aren't being addressed: Alderley Rd, Buckingham Rd, Bourne St, Knustford Rd, Lindfield Estate, Heyes Lane .... the list goes on.

Everyone is well aware of this but still nothing is being done. When will the council and police actually talk to each other and pull their fingers out? The council say it's a police matter and the police say it's not up to them. No-one seems willing to provide adequate all-day parking provision so don't hold your breath for a solution any time soon and the roads will continue to be gridlocked.