School parking issues- is there ever a solution?

[MinnieMountain]

DS’s infants school has been doing School Streets since September. This means that the street (dead end which ends at the school) leading up to the school is supposed to be residents only during drop off and pick up times.

Recently parents have got particularly bad for ignoring the sign.

I’m a school governor and I’m going in to see the HT soon to discuss health and safety.

Can the collective wisdom of MN help me with ideas I can put to her to get the lazy fuckers to obey the rules? Weekly reminders in the school newsletter get ignored.

The scheme is not legally enforceable as we’re not in London.

We don't have the scheme but the school regularly gets the local PCSO to stand in the street advising drivers.

The only thing that works here is when the police turn up at drop off time!

To many parents think their child will melt if they have to walk more than a few steps. Especially if it’s raining - apparently on those days the zig zags are their own personal parking spaces!

Drat. I was hoping years of collective experience might produce the holy grail.

That’s the thing- the school has said many times where people can park as an alternative but apparently it’s too far to walk .

It’s a short street, so each car that shouldn’t be there makes a big difference.

Can you get the residents to park their cars on the road so there is no space for the parents?

Do you have a breakfast club at the school? Parents might be dropping them off then having tp high tail it to work if there's no breakfast club available?

Of course, even if there is, I guess most won't want to pay for it...

As long as they are parking legally then I don't think there's much you can do. Pissed me off no end when HT started trying to dictate where and when parents could park.

The school has overstepped the line in making up rules about public streets.

@Ginmakesitallok

As long as they are parking legally then I don't think there's much you can do. Pissed me off no end when HT started trying to dictate where and when parents could park.

I don't know much about it but I think School Streets uses Local Authority Traffic management orders so the parking would not be legal.

Staggered drop off and pick ups made a huge difference during lockdown. If it isn’t legally enforceable then a newsletter reminder is not going to stop them I’m afraid.

Our local schools have parents stand with the fencing across the street blocking it off. They all volunteer different days.
We have 3 local schools that do this. All within 0.5 miles and it causes mayhem on surrounding roads one being a gridlock main road anyway.
I don't use the schools but someone I knpw does. They have no issues in people ignoring when parents are 'policing' it.

WaterBottle123
School Streets is an initiative done in conjunction with local authorities.

Unfortunately it's needed because a substantial minority of parents seem to think they're the only people to have ever had children and their job is so very important, and they're simply much busier than all the other parents at school so have to park as close to schools as possible, frequently being jackasses in the process.

I’m surprised that it is not legally enforceable at all. Might the HT be able to patrol occasionally?

Do the people coming in cars need to drive at all? Presumably the school has taught the children the benefits of walking/scooting to school and the negative effects of fumes and traffic etc. However depends on the demographic, at our school almost everyone is within walking distance, even though many don’t walk (which drives me insane)

Could you try putting a folding sign up, or some cones? Obviously people could move it, but it might help as a visual reminder.

A volunteer group collecting the children from the safe parking area and walking them crocodile style to the school can work.

Our school has agreed with the local council that the car park for a local park (usually you have to pay) will be free at/ around pick up times and a huge section of the car park reserved for the school during those times. i'd guess 40 spaces. It's less than 5 min walk from the school, a lot of parents use it so it does work, but there is still a problem with the parking around the school even with this new facility. Head teacher and deputies stand by the road everyday because a kid got run over last year by an ASDA delivery van. The head will often tell parents not to park on the lines / drive irresponsibly.

I've seen designated drop-off areas (literally queue, drop and go) in places like America. However, I don't know how feasible that would be here in the UK.

I’d definitely do what @IhaveMyMoments said. I live less than five minutes walk from a primary school and the number of people here who drive their kids, then drive back home is astounding.

We've had local councillors, bus company, taxi firms, roads department all in for Parent Council meetings. After a tragic death a few years ago they were very willing to try and help wrt road safety. We had a guy from roads sit and monitor the traffic and they ended up adding some more yhellow lines, signs etc. We did discuss trying to make the road one way at one point.

What has helped has been the staggered pick up/drop off post covid, there are fewer cars about.

And just repeated letters/emails from the school, plus the threat of police, asking police to patrol more frequently, sometimes having more members of staff out (although they risk getting abuse).

• we have a designated drop off. It works ... some of the time, but if people park in it it fucks it all up, and if taxis park uip on the pavement and/or people start reversing where there are lots of kids running out gates and into the road ... it's all quite scary sometimes.

There are solutions but they would never be introduced.

If a parent cannot bring a child to school with regard to safety, and obey all traffic laws, then they don't do so at all. Make a place conditional on the travel to and from school, as part of the admissions policy.

The others which would probably work for primary level is that such unacceptable behaviour puts you back of the queue for secondary school places. Another is random breath testing, as I bet that some parents are over the drink-drive limit or have drugs in their system.

Oh, yes, we also got standing up signs of cartoony kids holding a sign that were put like traffic cones at strategic pinch points. They did help a bit, although yes, some people will move them.

Sorry, will stop multiple posts - this is a bit of a bugbear for me! Traffic and kids mixed makes me break out in hives.

I live on a road that is residents only parking (indeed the whole estate) due to proximity to the primary, secondary and college. Unfortunately it means that parents park dangerously on the few bits that aren't in the residents zone.

What shocks the residents though... The college, that opened back in September, has no student car park. At least parents are only their briefly.

Surprisingly, the secondary has a drop off lane outside.

At our local primary, the council have put up ANPR cameras at the end of the road. Anyone who doesn't have a permit (e.g. a resident, or someone that the school has given a permit to - in theory just staff, but in practice I think a fair few parents have managed to get one issued to them too) gets an automatic fine if they drive down the street at drop off/pick up times.

The council made an absolute fortune at first... Now, the road outside the school is much quieter.

Of course, the surrounding roads are now complete chaos instead, as it's only shifted the problem slightly, it hasn't solved it.

I don't know what happens about delivery vans, tradesmen etc during those hours.

We have a local pub who offer there car park for drop off and collection.

The difficulty is times have changed. Many parents are on there way to work not going home like many years ago.

I do also think live near a school expect roads to be busy around school time. That doesn't include rude people blocking the drive

I don't know why more schools don't set up the "Kiss & Drop" system that works in America. Parents queue up in their cars to drop their kids off at school but never need to turn their car engine off as the kids hop out when their car gets to the top of the queue and the parents can drive off.
Otherwise you're going to have to get the local residents involved and give them high-vis jackets and stop the cars from entering the street that the school is the other end of. You would have to direct parents before they get to the street though and residents will be given a very identifiable sticker to put in their windscreen which means that they wouldn't be stopped during these drop off/collecting times.