Parents' parking around schools is getting more dangerous

[Nickynicks]

A large primary school on the crossroads of a major A road and a busy B road. Parents used to park in the Lidl car park on the opposite corner and walked. Now they have installed APNR cameras and touchscreens in the packing area for shoppers to enter their reg details.

Now these parents are parking on the corners of the crossroads, making it difficult for drivers driving towards the crossroads. I drove past the school about 40 mins before the school closed and parents were already parking in dangerous positions like the above.

Another school which is en route for a colleague to go to work says parents are parking cars blocking entrances to side streets/cul de sacs.

The only thing to teach parents that this parking behaviour is unacceptable is to hit them in the pocket - fine them.

I was driving into town the other morning and was delighted when I had to wait for a group of 38 cyclists - mostly schoolchildren - cycled along the bypass across the junction I was waiting at, presumably on their way to school.

Seems like a better option than having to work out where dozens of cars are going to park.

Or demand better? Why let people get away with this kind of dangerous, or even illegal, behaviour?

Massive problem here with patents mounting the pavement so they aren't on the road on the double yellow line... the Police come out periodically but they can't control what they do when they aren't there

Put up random cameras outside schools for 2-3 days - don't tell parents when their DC;s school(s) will have cameras and fine any parent who parks on zig zags, DBY etc

One of the worst things is that people park very early because they want to get as near to the school as possible, so for at least half an hour before school ends. In the colder weather, they sit with the engine running, causing even more pollution.

One of the arguments is always that people have to use cars to drop children off, but if you’ve got time to sit and wait for half an hour, I think you’re probably not rushing from work.

It’s a problem in all schools and, without sanction, which would probably involve police on a regular basis, there’s probably nothing to be done, except urge people to be more considerate and to promote walking to school, certainly at primary.

I regularly have to dodge my daughter out of the way of drivers that just completely mount the curb, at some speed, with half their cars whilst we're walking past on the pavement. Complete dicks with no regard for anyone other than getting their stupid electric Tesla's as close to the school as possible as they have rushed from their important jobs and their needs are more important than the safety of children.

I live very close to a primary school....I've seen it all over the years. The entitlement is ridiculous!!!

There is a single yellow line outside my house as we are so close and there is a school crossing. Parents park on the yellow line, block my drive, park on zig zags.....its endless. There is plenty of parking within a very short walk .....but everyone wants to be virtually in the yard!!!

The local council is now using a cctv car .....I love seeing it drive by knowing that lots of people will get tickets.

People will only change if they decide themselves to be more considerate. Our school publish a walking zone to encourage people to park further away and it works quite well. Traffic is often horrific anyway so quicker to park further. What really gets my goat is the people that stop in the middle of the road for the kids to get out. It's a narrow road and gets congested if people stop in the middle of it, it always takes longer than they think.

I don't think the parking is awful outside the school I work in but it's the sudden pulling out and in, doing three point turns in the middle of the road, suddenly backing out into oncoming traffic, Ubers stopping in the middle of the road. Definitely frustrating at peak times

My son's school is like this, people parking all over the place. Doesn't bother me. They never hit any kids. Mostly sensible just very congested. Think it's part and parcel unfortunately.

I live opposite a school and they park in the car parks here which is housing association property. They were parked here at 2.20pm today. Kids dont get out until 3.15pm I had one swear at me when i was being picked up in a car by a friend. My reply was "i bloody live here" Our HA did bring in parking tickets back in 2009 but the bloody wardens would ticket the cars belonging to tenants as well. Despite the fact we had parking permits in the windows next to the tax disc. We got one (DH no longer drives) and it took four months to get the money back.

Is it in ashford kent?

One high school there is a lay-by outside the school which fits 6-7 cars. Seen parents park in there and do their work in the car - not WFH, but WFC. Firstly must be difficult to work properly in a car, two, how sad and three, where do they go to the loo? Doubt school would let them.

Parents won’t change until a child gets killed or seriously injured because of selfish dangerous parking which causes blindspots

Secondary school in middle of town has huge problems. An older building that has no parking facilities at all even for teachers. No place to go except the streets double parking even. People try to be considerate. What is the solution?

They never hit any kids.

Until they do.

My school is turning the road into a "school road". It really is needed as it's so bloody dangerous. I've actually had someone shouting at me to move out the way so they can park with all 4 wheels on the pavement! Lots of the parents are moaning about the change, even ones that live on the street and won't be affected 🤷‍♀️. Very few of our parents don't live within walking distance of the school - we're in London.

A new build estate was built next to our local primary and they had the foresight to make an area specifically designed for drop offs. It works really well here and I think solutions need to come from both sides. For example, designated drop off points etc I have seen some US examples where parents don’t even leave their cars, they queue safely. I simply don’t understand why people want to park closer and have more stress. If I had to drive, I’d rather park a few streets away and walk.

My daughters school is literally a 5 minute walk. My neighbour drives her children in her range rover. Utter madness. And she drives home after so its not like shes dropping them off on the way to work. The keep clear zig zag lines are offen covered with lazy parents dropping off kids. Its very frustrating.

There was research done at one point that showed that kids walking to school actually performed better than those who were driven. I realise some live too far away but there's no excuse not to park a few streets away. It's mostly just pure laziness.

School parking has been a nightmare for a long time. For secondary schools in particular I do think a better, much cheaper school bus system would be useful. An annual bus pass for DS school costs nearly £700, I can see why many parents decide to drive them to school rather than pay that especially if they have multiple children.

walking has been pushed for years and is obviously the ideal but many people choose not to do that or are unable.

Nightmare where we live. It's a 700 pupil school. Not all will live in walking distance. There is a free car park that has about 30 spaces a five minute walk away. But that gets full pretty quickly. There's no consideration when building schools where potentially 200 cars are going to park.

The drop off systems with staggered times offered in America (or at least on American tv shows ) seem like a good idea.

get the council on it - our one sends out a car with a camera and mobile parking officers to dd1 school at random intervals.

at dd2 school, the council allows local residents to submit photos of illegal parking and they will ticket off the back of that photographic evidence. School tells parents that they are at risk of this and it’s improved parking habits no end!

Its not just schools.

What would make a difference would be if The Police issues Points as well as fines.

Generally I suggest that parking offences need to be made 'pointable' because people who act in the way described here are not fit to be allowed to drive

Public transport? Park a ten or fifteen minutes walk away? If it's in the middle of a city there are options. I work at a similar school with kids who live ten mins away being picked up in huge SUVs. It's carnage at the end of the day..constant blocked routes etc. At the very least smaller cars would help.

Our sons old primary school had this problem, the other roads were permit holders only, but there was a huge car park a ten minute walk away that was free for the first 30 minutes, so plenty time. Yet a significant number of people would block the road, triple parking wasn’t uncommon. In the time our son was there three people (one a child) were hit by parents mounting the pavement in their cars and driving directly into pedestrians. The child had a head injury and a broken leg, the parent who ran them over didn’t change their driving or parking habits.

The road was then turned into a school street, as the ajoining roads were permit holders only the traffic wardens were always there before and after school, so the parents were essentially guaranteed a fine if they parked there. Suddenly they were able to not only park in a car park, but their feet also did this wonderful thing called walking.