I live in a road with a school

That's terrible, such a shame its not safer

Cycling is slow and impractical with even one older child, very difficult with more than one of any age and also less reliable wrt weather, road conditions etc. I did it for years when I only had the one, and it was hard. Cycle paths often aren't maintained, I don't know how many punctures i got, but it was loads, and those were awkward conversations to have with an employer. Most workplaces don't have showers and honestly I never felt quite ok going into an office environment after a 30 minute cycle. The last straw for me was when me and DS on the tagalong went over on black ice at a roundabout one awful dark winter morning. He broke his arm. I'd already kind of had enough but that was the final straw that got me taking driving lessons.

It's getting worse. It's always been bad near us but recently I've had to start detouring rather than walking along the pavement to the main entrance because someone has taken to driving up and onto the pavement even when kids are walking along it. After the second close call I now walk a longer way round. I reported it to the council who simply responded saying that they knew it was an issue but that they are stretched. I should add people regularly do this on the opposite pavement but the patch right by the entrance which is always thick with school children and parents was always fine before the pandemic....presumably because people understood if they parked there it is both stupid and dangerous but people no longer care. Other joys I see daily aside from the pavement parking include parking on the zig zags and abandoning car or sitting in it and refusing to move and others driving down the small road next to school even though it is already full and blocked but no they just back up onto the main road. It's a single track lane with a turning circle so once its blocked there is literally no point trying to get in as ultimately everyone in there needs to reverse onto the main road....yet daily people persist

You need to talk to the school. I live next to a school and any issues I talk to them - they've been great at sorting things out. People have blocked my driveway too and the school now has members of staff in hi vis outside preventing this from happening. If the school isn't helpful I'd contact your local council. There are lots of things they can do from having traffic wardens patrol and issue fines to painting zig zag 'no stopping' lines on the road and more. But speak to the school first. Chances are they're aware of problems already, but often its local residents complaining that forces them to come up with new solutions.

Hah When i said the same thing on another thread, i was told the parents MUST be ALL on their way to work, .......................at 3.30pm on a Friday afternoon

Cycling is quick

Surely driving closer to school and then walking the last 10 mins would be sensible for most?

Trouble is that there's a small amount of time between drop off and needing to start work. Drop off is 8.30 earliest, usually 8.45, most jobs start at 9. Any variation from that costs money ultimately - shorter working hours from a 9.30 start means lower wages. Earlier drop off at eg breakfast club costs attendance fees. That's every day and it adds up.

Even a ten minute walk means ten minutes each way which realistically means building an extra 30 minutes into the schedule and either way you do that you end up, as a parent, paying for it.

Contact the local council. They will send out a parking enforcement officer. Worked a treat.

Twiglets, I'd be very happy to live in a 'school street' with restricted access, not all comings and goings involve cars, find another way to.live

Same except the primary close to me has an arrangement with a pub that's about a 4 min walk away. Do many use it? Absolutely not! My kids went to that school and even when mine were there the car park was made staff only because the parents were so inconsiderate and it became dangerous.

I totally get that people often need to drop kids at school then go onto work but there are so many compromise options that get ignored. Surely driving closer to school and then walking the last 10 mins would be sensible for most?

But if a child gets hit (and there are regular near misses) the effect will not be short lived.

Its not the street being busy, its the dangerous and inconsiderate drivers causing the problems. Double yellow lines, mounting pavements, blocking exits etc.

It's short lived in that it doesn't last all day. It doesn't even last an hour. And the second phase of it happens when most people are at work.

As for walking, well the majority of people are capable of doing that, including men driving to and from their big important jobs. And yet still the roads are full of cars. Why are women and children focused on as being the ones who should walk and the subjects of fury when they do not do so. Unlike most rush hour journeys, taking the kids to school is a journey that happens due to legal requirements - children have to be in school. Yet it seems to have a lower status than any other.

@Needmorelego yeah those "school street" measures generally restrict people far more than brief pick up and drop off windows. It's sledgehammer to crack a nut.

We have that as well as residents parking in nearby streets. The parking attendants will randomly come out and ticket cars during school run time.

There is one local primary school it doesn't work at all due to them not having residents parking. As a result school run parents have blocked traffic including a bus route by parking on an adjacent road.

I'd say it's not short lived at all. My old primary school had huge problems with the influx of no walking parents - an entire through road got blocked. When I was younger, everyone walked to the school. The village has increased in size along with a population of children who seem incapable of walking despite it being a very very safe area with no through traffic at all.

@HauntedBungalow it's not "short lived minutes" - it's essentially almost 3 hours a day residents are prevented from doing everyday things they need to do - like getting a taxi outside their home to get to medical appointments (which we do regularly).
I am hoping the one by me (still in trial stage) will change to allow taxis and deliveries.
Edit : sorry I thought you were referring to a "School Street" traffic zone.

Ours was never like this, and most people walked - it's only a small primary school, and most people lived nearby. Then just before covid it got Ofsted 'outstanding', at around the same time a school in a nearby bigger town went down to 'good' (the others there are still 'outstanding') and now there are lots of people driving from the town to bring their kids here and the traffic is a nightmare.

I sympathise as I too live in a road with the school at the end. I’ve had people park over my drive blocking my car in for the last 18 years. Worst thing they do is double park on the hill up to the school so if I come out if the end of my road I can’t turn left as you can’t get through. When we first looked at the house we came at school drop off and pick up times to check the traffic and it was fine and only busy for an hour twice a day so not a big deal but the year my son started reception they added an additional class . So over the next six years it got gradually busier and busier as the pupil numbers increased.

We extended our dropped curb and had H bars painted on the road as did several other houses and the rise us now much quieter.

Talk to the school.

I think that schools need to take more responsibility in all of this. With parking and indeed driving increasingly restricted in urban areas, while public transport provision crumbles, parents increasingly find it more difficult to carry out the journeys they need to do.

Everyone has to take their kids to school, everyone has to work, this is just how it is. Pick up and drop off happen at the same very limited times for two thirds of the year and most times outside of that streets next to schools are ime pretty quiet. Schools generally have enough land at their disposal to be able to organise a system that accommodates these brief pinch points and they really need to do it.

Although also I think that people who live on streets with schools do need to get a bit of perspective about predictable and short lived minutes of inconvenience.

We have one of those in our town too. The area was new to us and when we were househunting we got snarled up in the road closure and couldn't find a way around it to get to our viewing appointment on time. In driving round and round trying to find an alternative way through, we realised that the parking that happens around every school was pushed further and further away from the road where the school actually was, meaning that all the other roads within 5 mins or so walk away had become gridlocked as a result.

It totally put me off buying that house, or any house likely to be similarly affected. You'd have to plan all of your comings and goings, visits, deliveries and appointments around this, twice a day every day in term time.

I imagine it is having quite a negative effect on the saleability of those houses.

Definitely contact the school etc as suggested, but I would be inclined to think that the problem will go on.

We used to live opposite a Nursery and I really sympathise with you, op. We used to have parents parking on our driveway regularly. So annoying! When it’s your home and your everyday reality, I found that it made me irrationally angry!

My ones are now in secondary, which has also got problems and the head sends out "name and shame" letters ones every so often. Our primary school was shocking! totally short little road, very few parking spaces, main road to one side but on the other side plenty of parking but as people have said, gosh, a two minute walk!

My neighbour always told me how great we were to always walk our kids to school, we worked, she didn't and always drove to drop them off and picked them up. So weird and so lazy. I would rather walk to avoid the stress of trying to find a parking space. (It is about an 8 min easy walk to that school from us)

The primary finally got a school street and cameras but as someone upthread pointed out that may of course also affect the local residents about deliveries etc

This. Our local school did the same. The council also helped with parking wardens. It did make a lasting difference, so please do speak up.

Why would there be no pub? I doubt it’s opening at 0830 for school drop off. If they “park, pick their kids up and bugger off again”, they’re not using the village facilities are they?