Page 112 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2019
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(e) at the start of Term 2 this year, 51 schools will lose their dedicated school bus service, forcing many students to cross major roads in order to access their schools;
(2) further notes that:
(a) in the first week of the 2018 school year more than 400 fines were issued to drivers exceeding the 40kph speed limit in school zones; and
(3) calls on the ACT government to commit to:
(a) ascertaining the safety needs for every school in the ACT;
(b) funding school crossing supervisors for all schools that meet the criteria for this additional safety measure by the start of Term 2 this year; and
(c) ensure all school zones are more visibly identified through additional road markings and flashing lights with this work to be finalised before the start of the 2020 school year.
Last week at 134 schools across Canberra a cohort of over 77,000 students from four-years-old and upwards started or returned to school for the first time in seven or more weeks. For students it can be a stressful time, particularly if they are starting at a new school or starting school for the first time. It can also be an exciting time and looked forward to with great anticipation as they meet up again with friends and download all that happened over the long holidays.
For parents it can be a time of stress, excitement, sadness or perhaps even relief. And for motorists who have no connection with or awareness of the fact that schools have gone back it can be a time of absolute ignorance as they drive past any number of schools on their usual route to work. For each of those groups, safety around schools is of paramount importance and priority.
In 2014 the ACT Council of Parents & Citizens Association conducted a survey amongst parents. The results of that survey found that more than two-thirds of the 1100 parents surveyed had seen an accident or a near miss around their school. In fact, parents of schoolchildren from 73 of the territory's then 86 government schools cited problems with dangerous driving, high traffic volumes, misuse of pick-up and drop-off zones and school crossings, and problems parking.
The council’s newsletter at the time said that more than two-thirds of parents surveyed had witnessed an accident or near miss around their school, with 14 per cent of respondents reporting this happened often. A similar number said their school car parks and drop-off areas were unsafe, while a fifth thought roads around their schools were very unsafe. The newsletter states:
While 70 percent of parents surveyed found both parking and set-down ‘difficult’, the most alarming result was the perception of safety, or lack of it, around ACT public schools. Nearly two thirds of respondents say their school carparks and set-down areas are unsafe to some degree …
The newsletter went on to say that the lack of parking is deterring some parents from attending school events, engaging with the school and even from volunteering. The
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