People who drive their children to school and "School Streets"

[Needmorelego]

Good Morning All.
I am after some honest answers about "School Streets" and driving to school.
The scheme closes roads outside schools at drop off/pick up times so people can't drive down the road and/or park there. This is supposed to encourage less cars outside schools.
Now - honest answers - if you drive your children and your school has one of these schemes have you actually stopped driving or have you just taken to parking somewhere else (like the next road over).
Thanks.
(not a journalist - it's just this scheme is being introduced where I live and it's going to be a pain in the arse for residents for various reasons)

@LlynTegid Not always true.

All our area schools were oversubscribed so a lot of people were given out of catchment placements.

Parents start work after the school run and have a time restraint.

I don't know why people put their kids through this. They have to be driven everywhere until they're 18, they miss out on a bunch of more varied activities, they miss out on basic things like playing out with their friends and getting independence going to little shops with friends, they miss out on being able to develop some of the hobbies and interests that only run in bigger population areas, they don't meet as many people, and the parents have to do so much more.

These kids' lives are going to be absolutely revolutionised in the future when driverless cars are widespread for all ages and they can go and do anything they like anywhere at any time.

One question would be is that, it may make it safer directly outside the school, but does it make it more dangerous elsewhere?
Because our juniors is large, and there is a big car problem. The people who park close tend to be the ones who get out of the car and meet their child at the gate, which is clearly safer on average for that specific child.

But most people don't come close. They park in the streets further out and I'd say if anything they are more dangerous than the long line on the main street. Because you have a narrow street that children are trying to cross on their own, parents parking badly, so children can't be seen. You get children who can't find the car because parent is late/couldn't get a space on that road. You get parents swinging their car round into the side road in a rush because they're running late and not noticing the children crossing etc.

I think the safest would be to turn the roads into a one way system at school pick up time and have one line of cars parked, and discourage the side road parking.
One local school has done this recently and I drove past at school pick up time and only after I was part way round realised it was that time because it was much calmer than other ones I've seen.

The link above specifically mentions safety and air quality around school entrances.

The number of parents who park up in our road from 2.30 onwards and sit there until 20 past 3 with their engines running pumping out fumes (and it IS fumes, i know, because i have to breathe it in going past) ... then the kids have to walk through it all coming out.

Parking ON the pavements - all four wheels, whole pavement blocked.
Stopping in the middle of the road to let kids in and out of the car.
Parking over the zig zag lines.
Double parking so kids can't see to cross.

Day after day. Letters and emails from the school do nothing.

Obviously nobody on here ever ever ever does any of these things, oh no of course not🙄but when responding to threads like these please at least acknowledge that it goes on. And the school street scheme is trying to stop it.

I don’t think schemes will deter people from driving. Many have no choice.

It wouldn’t be such an issue if parents didn’t behave like arses when parking. There is more than enough space to park outside my house but they just glide in and abandon their car half across my drive, then some other arse does the same on the other side and I’m blocked in or out.

It won’t stop people driving but if it shifts traffic away from the area immediately outside the school then it improves safety which I’m guessing is the overall aim.

We’ve had two kids knocked down by cars outside primary schools locally. I wish they’d do more traffic management here.

But most schools have a breakfast club. If parents don't have the time to either walk, or park somewhere sensibly to drop their kids off, then they need to look at other solutions. The answer isn't to just drive to the school gate and park wherever they fancy, driving over pavements and doing 3-point turns all over the place all in the name of 'I need to, I have to get to work'.

@HappyQuinn Do you make a habit of reading something and then going off on a tangent about what hasn’t been said?

Very strange reply to my comment.

And yes, spreading the twats out over a few streets HAS to be better than having them all crammed up one road where ALL the children have to also be to get out of school.

The idiots are out there making this an issue. Be cross with them not ideas to safeguard the kids.

I don't know why people put their kids through this.

You genuinely don't understand why some parents live outside of towns, large villages and cities? Where do you think your food is coming from? Where do you think that 17% of the population should relocate to?

My DC are in secondary school and have a lot of freedom now they are old enough to be trusted to navigate the busy country roads by themselves. My 15 yo is always out on his bike (we paid for extra cycling road safety lessons). My 13 yo very confidently travels to the city and the beach by train with her friends. Her friends' parents and I take it in turns to drive them the 30 min round trip to the nearest station. We don't farm, but they enjoy epic parties and summer holidays camping out almost unsupervised on friend's farms and estates. It's a great place to grow up (I would know, I had a similar upbringing)

Yes, it has its challenges, but please don't feel sorry for my children.

We have this locally. One charming man tried to threaten residents about where he could and couldn’t park to drop off kids. His son was a nasty little brat who’d kick cars or swear at residents. I live in the zone and it’s much better. I still have no idea why some parents come an hour early. Or some parents who live round the corner drive and park.

School streets work to make it safer for children arriving/departing from school but it does not change the number of parent who drive. It just pushes it to the next available road. Most parents do not drive to school for fun but usually continue onward directly to work after they have dropped off their DC.
This will not change as most workplaces (even with flexible start times) expect you to be at work between 9.30 - 10am.

I would still drive if my school had one of these schemes. Not ideal but I live a twenty minute walk to school, then would have to walk a further 10 minutes to nursery and then half hour walk back home before commuting to work, which would make me nearly an hour late each day. I work in a location only accessible by car. It just wouldn’t be feasible.

@Laiste if the road by the school is closed off wouldn't that just move all the bad drivers/parking to the next road over?
I really don't understand why people sit waiting with the engine running. When I was a kid I remember you did that if you wanted the radio playing - but doesn't everyone just sit on their phones now ?

It's bizarre where we live (London borough) - school streets seem to work well but they are only implemented close to state schools. If you live close to a private school, it seems you still have to endure 4x4s doing 3 point turns across the pavement.

I am lucky in that I live about 4 minute walk from school but I'm often having to dodge people in massive cars just swinging right up onto the pavement whilst I'm walking right there, seemingly oblivious that people might actually be using the pavements for walking on.

The parking situation at our school is dire and I don't think its helped though by local residents in my street who (though they have driveways) intentionally park their cars on the street during the week, in what I presume is a passive aggressive way to stop people parking on the pavements. Like...come on guys. Some parents have to drive, and what does it matter to you if they park outside your house when you already have a driveway. I think its childish behaviour of my neighbours and just exacerbates the problem.

I personally don't have an issue with people parking in the area I live for drop offs, as long as they do it considerately and pay attention to pedestrians.

I see a lot of idiots doing three point turns in the entrance to my road, holding up traffic in three directions in the process.

There are three School streets here (my kids are at all 3 schools).

made a VAST difference to the primary school. Huge difference to road safety, threat, danger, the start and end of the school day. I never drive but it probably slashed the no who did by 2/3 or even more. I used to pass people loading kids into cars and pass them again unloading - all those mini journeys have gone.

secondary 1 - little difference to how pple get to school (always public transport). Again a road safety difference.

secondary 2 - impact complicated by the fact that a rat run past the school has also been permanently closed. That change was utterly transformative, not only to the kids at that school, but to mine (and others) at other local schools who all walk this way. The School St was added to the closure because a significant no of parents were still driving and then doing dangerous u turns to get out again. That’s gone too now - there’s still some drive and drop, but it’s less risky to everyone else now.

Im a huge huge fan, esp if the school road has any sort of weight of traffic.

Part of the need to use a car arises when some schools are over subscribed and others have capacity. If a school has spaces for 30 children per year and 60 apply for a place, 30 are going to be going elsewhere- further away, so probably more use of the car. Unless it’s further than three miles, in which case, transport should be provided.

I still think that far more people than do, are able to walk to school, but choose not to. No one, surely, needs to sit in a car for half an hour with the engine running and they arrive so early in order to shoehorn into a space. Unless you’re very part time, you’re not going to be leaving work for the end of the school day.

@javamum it's a state primary (but is London).

I'm quite passionate about this as I campaigned for years (in fact my kids had left primary by the time finally came last year!) and I'm bloody relieved/thankful it's been installed and is proving such a hit. Some traffic has dispersed to the wider area but not massively and it's just brilliant seeing swarms of kids of all ages walking, cycling, scootering to school, chatting to their mates, running around and not hearing car horns and irate parents.

The school is in the middle of town in a well populated residential area & catchment is only about half a mile. There will obviously be a few exceptions but the vast majority live very close. Close enough that most should be walking to school but didn't because when we were fighting for this we found most didn't because:

1. The roads even footpaths were made dangerous by inconsiderate parent driving & parking
2. Parental fears for their child's safety: traffic, abduction, unfounded fears.
3. LOTS of parents drop their kids off on the way to work or for social get-togethers - yes some will have a very tight turnaround so NEED to drive, but lots could leave the house earlier, walk to school & back then get their car (school allow drop off from 8:25-8:50 so decent enough window)
4. Some parents are just lazy. My next door neighbour used to drive her 3 kids as it probably was more convenient for her but IMO inconsiderate of the wider community: she used to leave the same time as us and we arrived the exact same time - it was a daily a race for my kids 😆

In order for it to be successful you can't just change the road outside and expect miracles, you need to engage the whole community & help them see the benefits of swopping car journeys: why that walk or cycle in the morning is so good for your child's physical and mental health; why leaving your car behind is better for the environment/local air quality/finances; how you could make it work if you made a few changes to your routine if not everyday then some days.

Other things that help: provide cycle training, set up a walking bus, employ/become a lollipop person, fundraise for scooter/cycle storage in the school, get the PTA on board with rewards or recognition of those who walk, wheel or cycle to school. It takes everyone to get on board including teachers teachers, support staff, parents, children, local residents.

Ours has the street closed 8am to 9am, and a longer time in the afternoon for the various different kicking out times. It definitely makes a relatively narrow street safer for the kids.

However, the street is blocked by volunteer, somewhat militant, parents. Residents of the neighbourhood (one way access) have so many problems leaving their house for work in the mornings and parents dropping babies, disabled kids/parents and elderly going to an adjacent centre are issued with car passes. The volunteer parents tend to refuse access to those with passes or argue with them. I had a temporary pass and have had to listen to an environmentalist rant against cars from more than one parent. It also means that many parents come by bike, and so there are bikes and kids everywhere with no road sense.

So, potentially good idea but depends on the implementation.

When my youngest was at primary school in the nineties there were a few parking problems but I could usually park either on the road the school was on, or a close that led off it. Ten years later I was living close to the school but not on the actual street and people dropping kids off or picking them up in cars bled on to my street. Another ten years I live quite a way from the school but have to completely avoid the area because there are parked cars and people trying to park hundreds of yards away from the school. They haven’t shut off the road but I don’t understand why there are so many more cars. The school hasn’t been extended so the amount of pupils must be the same. If they shut off the road the school was on I dread to think what would happen - the entire mid region of the town would be impassable!

I walk to school with my kids so would have no impact.

I or DP drive DSS to school some days but he live a 40 minute drive away with no real viable public transport so yeah I would just be parking on the next street.

I live on a road directly behind a huge primary school. It’s a 2 form entry, and I believe it’s increasing to 3 form. The catchment is pretty big, meaning most parents need to drive.

The headteacher is regularly on the local and sometimes national news whenever there’s a story to cover about schools, and the local councillor’s grandkids go to this school. The road has been a school street for a few years. They have cameras and tiny signs that most people don’t notice. They also have zig zags, speed bumps, and a zebra crossing.

Naturally, the traffic has got a lot worse on my road at school pick up and drop off times, as well as in the other roads around. I wouldn’t mind that so much, except for the fact that there is another primary school on this road too (my dc went to this one when they were younger). It’s tiny - 1 form entry and much smaller grounds. The catchment is also much smaller and the majority of parents walk. The front entrance is on the main road (no parking possible there anyway), but the back gate is opposite my house and it is used far more than the front entrance is. Problem is, there are no signs, no zig zags, no speed bumps, no zebra crossing, no clue at all that there is a school here apart from the sight of all the small children in uniform twice a day.

My dd was hit by a car taking a shortcut past our house at 8am on a weekday a couple of years ago. Thankfully she only had a couple of bruises and a grazed knee to show for it, but it’s only a matter of time before a child is badly injured here.

We had to drive as we both had to get to work after and they introduced permit parking only in a wide area surrounding the school with no parking or drop of capability outside the school.
We parked just outside the permit area.

If you have to get to work, your kids are young and with school hours not giving enough time for you to walk to the school drop off walk home and then get to work you have no choice.