to ask if you've heard of School Streets, and whether you think it's a good idea?

[Toomuchstuffwillkillme]

I just caught a bit of 'Clean Air for Kids' on R4 about School Streets in Hackney. Had not heard about it. (Must listen to whole programme properly in a bit!)
Seems like the sort of thing we should all be thinking about? I appreciate actually getting car-loving parents on board might be difficult, and there are probably a lot of issues that would need ironing out, but worth a try?
hackney.gov.uk/article/4379/School-streets

What is it?

Bother, don't think the link linked.

"The streets around a school temporarily become pedestrian and cycles only at set times in the morning and afternoon. Vehicles are not permitted to enter the street between these times unless they have been granted an exemption.

You can register for an exemption if you're a resident living or working in a school street zone, a business in a school street zone, or a blue badge holder.

Signs inform drivers of the restrictions before the entrance to the closed street. Non-registered vehicles entering the street during the times of operation will be identified by camera and issued a fixed penalty notice."

Would be amazing where my kids school is, sadly am sure it will never happen.

clicky link

Looks like a proposal to stop vehicles entering the road a school is on during school drop off and pick up times.

Honest reaction? I agree with the the sentiment but I think any restriction that applies only during certain times of day is difficult and there would be a lot of inadvertent mistakes.

And the danger is that kids could be led into a false sense of security and could take to walking on the road etc thinking they are safe, without watching out for the end of the restricted time period or the odd car who hasn’t seen the sign.

Meanwhile those drivers who know the restriction would probably avoid the street altogether rather than get caught out (just like nobody drives in bus lanes even in the “permitted” hours) and so the surrounding streets would get far more traffic.

I’d say either do it fully (ie barred to vehicles all the time) or not at all.

I hope it means holding a blue badge is enough.

I'm a blue badge holder and I'd be mightily narked off if I had to go through a fresh registration hoopla every time I wanted to visit someone in a zone or run an errand in a zone (assuming the scheme spreads).

Basically they just shut the roads round school when kids go in and out, thus making them all walk/cycle at least the last bit, and making it less worthwhile getting in the car to go 250m. Which I watch some people doing every day - I live near a school and I think in principle this would be a great idea, though I'd expect a fair bit of lazy parent backlash

though I'd expect a fair bit of lazy parent backlash

Actually, fuck that.

DC3 starts year R next year and there's no way I'd put up with her being made to feel more conspicuous because of some ableist scheme and the judgmental parents saying crap like that.

It's true that there are lazy parents, Cole that's a statement of fact, it's NOT the same as saying disabled people are lazy! Wouldn't it be helpful for blue badge holders if there were fewer non badge holders clogging up the roads?

Not if it involved my DC's own school. Or any child with a mobility-disabled primary carer. Or any mobility-disabled child themselves. It's just another way to make children in challenging circumstances feel shitter about themselves and self-conscious. There's so much in society that does that already.

Those residential street schemes for playing in, OTOH, I'm all in favour of.

Sounds like a crap idea to me, sorry.

Just be completely chaotic with people rushing about to try to get children to school, themselves to work etc. What if you've got several schools nearby? The streets in the middle would be horrendous. What if you've got to drop off at different schools?

All you are realistically going to do with this is move the traffic and parking problems further from the school gates, and annoy people.

It wouldn't work where I live. Lots of schools are on major roads in town or on the main road in the village.

I know one of the schools involved and it works well for them. It's mainly been pitched locally as tackling air quality issues by cutting down vehicle traffic, esp idling engines, close to the school. Encouraging kids to walk a bit more is seen as a secondary benefit. Local residents on the street love it too as it means they can get their cars out more easily at those times rather than being hemmed in by parents.

We have it at our school. The streets around the exclusion zone are awful with parents parking where they want blocking the roads as normal. Small Kids are under a false sense that the front of the school is safe due to being closed off but are regularly nearly knocked over by cyclists who are just as dangerous as cars.

The surrounding streets are so bad, if they really wanted the kids to be safe they’d need to expand the scheme to 1/4 mile radius or something.

It makes life difficult for people with mobility difficulties many of whom won't qualify for a blue badge because they can walk 50m

It seems to come from this narrative that everyone driving to school is too lazy to walk there and back. Time and again it's been pointed out that the majority are going on to work/another school/nursery so walking is just not an option.

I suppose a lot of people would react like Owlina, so maybe it will never catch on. Though apparently one of these schemes has been permanently adopted in Hackney recently.
I have kids who go to different schools - one is close, the other is over a mile and a half away. DC have walked (most days) since they were 9.
I think the hope is that rather than moving the problem, you reduce the whole problem. But it would inevitably make some people's lives more inconvenient or mean they have to get up 10 minutes earlier.

Reducing cars on the road so that those that have to use them would seem a good thing. For many reasons.

There are SO many issues our Council needs to tackle ahead of something like this.
If they had money available to improve the lives of school children, then I'd vote for them starting to provide enough specialist provision, and enough support within mainstream schools for children with SEN/D to all have an appropriate placement.

The cost and policing of a scheme like this would be totally disproportionate to any benefit.

Good in theory but can’t see how it can work in the real world. There are at least 6 primary schools with a mile of my house - you’d have to close all the roads & it would be total chaos

I should imagine more people use public transport in Hackney through? That's not a realistic option for those that live outside of cities.

Backfirgood how much is the cost?

Many people who are able both physically and from a time point of view to walk their kids to school, choose to drive. It's quite common for people to use the excuse of it not being safe to walk because of cars, for driving. These initiatives should hopefully stop a significant number of those drivers, making it safer for kids, and easier for those that need to drive due to disability.
Pollution is literally killing our kids, something needs to be done about it.

I've got no idea IvyKate - but I can list things that would cost a fiver that the council won't authorise payment for at the moment, and I suspect the cameras, road signs etc etc would cost a LOT more than that.

How much is the benefit ?

My kids would love to walk to school, but because we have to go straight to work it has never been an option. I honestly don't know anyone who drives to school who doesn't need to.
I find your posts very narrow minded- not everyone is in the same situation as you, where getting up ten minutes earlier would solve all their problems.
I'm very happy for you that the school run fits easily into your routine. Ten minutes extra added on to mine could actually bring a very tight routine crashing down.

Backfirgood

Car trip to school fell by 43%