To ask if you have ever solved parking on zig-zag lines issues at your school?

[JacquesHarlow]

I am genuinely trying to understand why there is so much disregard from drivers for our school markings (zig zag lines asking to "keep clear"). The disregard for the lines happens during drop-off and pick up on the school run, when the council have placed a sign above the lines explicitly stating that they should be kept clear at these times.

In the last month I have seen

• Someone swoop in over the markings while indicating left. Then sitting there with the engine running for 3 mins, still indicating left (why?!) while they hoped the space in front of the zig zags would be vacated. When it wasn't, they then offloaded their offspring on the zig zags

• A dad drop off his son in a sports car. Then sit bang slap in the middle of the zig zags while rolling a cigarette. When challenged by another mother, he said coldly .. "I'm rolling my cigarette"..completely oblivious of the outrage of those who had asked him to clear the markings so people could safely cross.

• A mother who regularly parks directly opposite the markings, mounted up on the kerb. It then funnels everyone's cars to drive into the zig zags in order to get round them. When challenged, usual haughtiness and arrogance. Couldn't see how this was causing any danger.

Last month we had a parking attendant out from the council .You can imagine what happened... all these people just melted away for a day, and then reappeared the next day.

So I have two real questions:

1. AIBU to even care about this? Are zig-zags a thing of the past? Surely people do care about the ability to cross safely without having to peer around cars that want VIP parking?
2. Have you had this problem before and how did your school solve it in the end?

Fully expect to be called U, but if so, can anyone explain then why I am unreasonable please?

Thanks in advance.

So a school street is street with a school or close to a school that you cannot drive down 2 hrs each day. 30mins before school starts, 30mins after school ends then again 30 mins before school ends and 30 mins after school ends.

Parents don't listen to teachers about education or discipline, they're not going to care about parking.

The entrance we used didn't have yellow lines, it was a residential street, so narrow that once everyone had parked on both sides, blocking drives and making the pavement unusable, it was lethal. Someone drove into me on purpose once, as I was blocking the road to walk up it with my pram, because I couldn't fit my pram on the pavement.

I live in a village where 95% of pupils live within 15 min walk of school, most living much closer.

You would not believe how many drive.

Things that would help? In brief, a return to the way things used to be.

• Schools allowing y4 & up to walk to/from school by themselves
• schools unlocking the playground from 8.15 or so and allowing ks2 children to be dropped off.
• employers stopping "hours creep". Employment contracts used to be 35 hours a week as standard, 9-5 or 9.30 - 5.30. Now increasing numbers demand 37.5 or 40 hours, so more and more parents are driving in a desperate bid to get to work on time.

It used to happen all the time at my son's primary school. Occasionally the school would send out a weak 'please don't park on the criss crossed area etc' letter, but of course the ones that do the dangerous parking took no notice. Cones used to work sometimes - a physical barrier to actually stop them from parking there can work. They'd last a day and slowly get moved, but for the first day of two people stopped parking where they shouldn't.

The world is full of people who should have left 10 minutes earlier

Ah but you see this is where you misunderstand. The drivers at my DC school, they are parked up well before the gate opens. Their issue is not having time to walk back home after dropping the DC off, before driving to work. That extra 10 or 15 minutes makes them late for work. Breakfast clubs are expensive and some schools still don't actually have them or lack capacity for all pupils. When we were kids school gates at junior schools were opened earlier and it was normal to be dropped off. Lots of kids were waiting in the playground from 8.15 onwards.

The point of the school streets scheme is not just to displace the traffic (seemingly making some drivers lives a misery) but also to encourage people out of their cars, so more walking, cycling and public transport, as a mode of travel to schools, (and to work after) which in cities is something we should be aiming for

The problem is time. I don't drive the kids to school myself but even I can see, it will never be fixed until the government take steps to give working parents more time. They are demanding that people work more and more, with less flexibility to work from home. This is what happens as a result. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

There should be tax incentives for employers who create/allow more "school hours" roles, or who encourage wfh. Also more significant incentives for job creation outside of London, too many jobs are centred there leading to vast numbers of people in the south east with long commutes into London. It would also be better for the environment to have fewer people travelling for work.

Stick never works. Carrot does.

this! Why are parents obsessed with parking immediately outside the school? My street is parallel and connecting to the street the school is on, with loads of parking, wide road, yet no parent parks on it, instead they cram in dangerously on the street the school is on. So stupid. It’s affluent here too, so they are all well off and well educated.

Driving past a school yesterday , they had put signs all along them like the ones supermarkets put out for spill , with warnings that parking on zig zags puts children in danger. Whether anyone ignore them and runs them down I have no idea .

I don't know. Some people are arseholes and if children's safety doesn't bother them, then not much will.
What I would do.
Fine, fine and fine some more, incorporate with points.
Bring back school.buses. My child's primary school had Balamory style minibuses parents signed up to which worked well and directly picked children up.
More safe streets where appropriate. Not all locations are.

Traffic and parking enforcement generally needs to improve.

I also wonder whether the utter carnage outside most schools feeds into sensory issues many kids have. The noise, the low level sense of menace and danger from aggressive parking.

That’s actually a really good idea. Could you imagine how much money that would generate?!

I live opposite a school/schools (nursery/infant/juniors) all on one site and it is horrendous at school drop off/pick up times. People park on the zig zags and across people’s driveways, even when I can still see spaces in the road.
It always makes me so angry wrt what they’re teaching their children 😡

Yes our headteacher invited a traffic warden to stand outside the school at pick up and drop off for a few weeks. Soon stopped the problem.

Fix cameras on lamp posts looking onto the ZZs. Fine the parents £100 for the first offence, £200 for the 2nd, £500 for the 3rd. After that each time, its £1000. Also the fine applies to each child. Got 3 kids that attend that school. The fines - £300, £600, £1500 and £3000 respectfully. Hit the parents where it hurts - their pocket. I don't care if you are on benefits etc.

The fine counts if stopping letting engine running and actually stopping. Only vehicles allowed to park on ZZs are emergency vehicles.

My friend's parents live in a cul de sac next to a school. Been there since the house was built 50 years ago and the school had an extension done to increase the numbers from 300 to 560. So at least 280-300 cars each day. Allowing for kids that walk and having siblings attending the school. When first moved in, probably 15-20 cars as the school serves 2 small villages a mile away with no school and no pavement (even now) between the village and the town.

Until a couple of years ago, hardly any parents parked down the cul de sac. Then one day, parents decided to park on the residents' drives. Friend's DM asked the mum could she not park on her drive. Mum shouted "I have rights to park where I fucking want to" right in front of her children aged about 5 and 8. Most of the residents had a parent parking up on their drives in the cul de sac of 15 properties. The only people who have rights to park on driveway are visitors and people who come to your home such as tradespeople (gas engineer) or such as a mobile hairdresser. NOT strangers.

Each one has a parking bollard installed at the pavement side of drive from a manual folding ones to remote controlled ones. My friend's parents have a remote controlled one as they are 78 and 81 and will find it a struggle later on.

Our village seems to have solved it. When they redesigned the ‘traffic calming’ measures a while ago, they put in a chicane directly outside the school. There’s no way for anyone to park near the school without totally blocking the road. The road through the village has a 20 limit, and the priority on this chicane means drivers can’t whizz through.

It’s outrageous isn’t it?!
I’ve had many occasions when I’ve been told to fuck off when I’ve approached people. One person who was parked across my driveway - with her children in the car, said to me, ‘If you want to act posh then you should live in a posh area’!!! I mean, wtf?!!!!

That’s really going to work in villages with one main road through them. 😂

Our dcs primary school is on a Healthy School Street, so thankfully most cars aren't allowed to enter the road the school is on during drop off/pick up hours, with cameras with license plate recognition as a deterrent. Most of the schools in our borough have the same.
Most families walk or use the tube or Overground.

Why would it matter that it wouldn’t work in a village? Not all strategies will work in all places.

I have lived near a school for 20 years. I know where people live and the vast majority do not need to drive to school.

You are not allowed to stop and drop off/pick up. Can drive through during those times

Surely you can’t claim to know the ins and outs of their routine just because you know what street they live on?
The vast majority of parents work and so it’s significantly more likely than not that these people are driving on to work and other commitments rather than simply driving home after the school drop off.

Do the parents get fined?

There are some parents who should walk their DC to school. A relative lives opposite a family who have DC attend a primary school 5 mins walk away. It takes the mother more than five minutes doing this as she reverses car from car port to drive - as car port is too narrow for having back doors open. Then to put youngest 2 DC into their seats and belt them up. She then drives back home.

Yeah the council issue a fine via cameras.