Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

news

Road closures to be brought in to discourage school run drivers once lockdown lifts

Post-lockdown measures also aimed at encouraging parents and children to walk, cycle or scoot to school

Temporary closures of roads near schools are planned for when the lockdown ends to discourage parents from taking their children to school by car, with walking, cycling and scooting being put forward as alternative means of getting there.

According to the Observer, London and Manchester are finalising plans to close roads, including by placing barriers and cones on them, and it is anticipated that other cities throughout the country will follow suit.

The measures are aimed at preventing gridlock, as well as stopping air quality from deteriorating around schools once the lockdown lifts.

They are also a response to the prospect of much reduced capacity on public transport as a result of the need to maintain social distance, plus

The news follows yesterday’s announcement by transport secretary Grant Shapps that the government is committing a £250 million emergency active travel fund for local authorities across England.

> Government announces £250m emergency active travel fund as part of £2bn investment

Among other things, the money will help councils put pop-up cycle lanes in place, something that is already happening in cities including Leeds, Leicester and Greater Manchester, whose cycling and walking commissioner, Chris Boardman, outlined the options open to the city-regions councils regarding schools.

“They could say, right we need to make a lot more space around these schools so people will stay apart,” he explained.

“They could say we will do it with cones, with planters, we will temporarily close roads, we will make it one way so we can use one lane. All of these measures can be adopted quickly,” he added.

Outlining proposals for closures of roads near schools in the capital, London’s walking and cycling commissioner, Will Norman, told the newspaper: “It will mean timed restrictions on traffic around schools to allow people to safely walk to school, cycle to school, scoot to school.

“I don’t mind if they are on space hoppers as long as it’s not by car. You need to reduce the amount of traffic to allow pupils and parents to walk safely.”

He explained that the need to maintain social distancing could create an additional risk for parents and children, saying: “The last thing we want is kids and their parents stepping into a busy road or to see increasing air quality problems around schools.”

Norman added that closing roads near schools twice a day “is going to have to be something that schools and local authorities plan for and I want all schools and councils to be looking at this urgently.”

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

Add new comment

12 comments

Avatar
ktache | 3 years ago
2 likes

Stopping some drivers dropping their little darlings exactly where they wish can be sometimes difficult.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/woking-parent-runs-over-teac...

Avatar
Captain Badger | 3 years ago
3 likes

Something that would massively help (if enforced) would be a general reduction of speed limits from 30 to 20 and in addition automatically make 20 limits no-overtaking zones

Avatar
EK Spinner replied to Captain Badger | 3 years ago
5 likes

What would be even better, if kids had to go to thier narest catchemnt school. that way there is no excuse as their is no need to travel a big distance (especially in an urban environment)
I belive this would also help with the social balance in schools and avoid the "exclusive" label that some manage to generate

Avatar
Captain Badger replied to EK Spinner | 3 years ago
4 likes

Indeed

Also, one of Mrs Badger's colleagues spent some time working in Zurich. Apparently all kids have to find their own way to school. Safety in numbers, self assurance and reliance, less traffic at school drop off, more savvy commuters.

Avatar
Rik Mayals unde... | 3 years ago
5 likes

The mummies dropping the kids off 200 yards up the road will take no notice of cones. They will simply drive over them in their Range Rovers

Avatar
Captain Badger replied to Rik Mayals underpants | 3 years ago
0 likes

Too true

Avatar
Dao | 3 years ago
2 likes

It may be prudent to stagger the classes at the beginning and end of the day so fewer people are coming and going at the same time. Would make it much easier for limited traffic to collect or drop off children if everyone isn't rushing to get there for the same time.

Avatar
kil0ran replied to Dao | 3 years ago
4 likes

Except for those with more than one child in the school, or one in infants and one in middle.

The issue with our local school goes beyond knobbish driving in the last few hundred yards, the problem is that the pavements are so narrow on most of the walking routes to school and lined with parked cars so it's impossible to maintain 2 metres, unless you make the pavements one-way systems.

Avatar
mikewood replied to kil0ran | 3 years ago
1 like

Easy. We should think about adopting the principle that the pavement should flow the same way as the traffic on that side

Avatar
David9694 replied to mikewood | 3 years ago
5 likes

No. It's cars that need to be regulated, not people. 
we have to break the principle that has grown up in the last 20 years that it's "too dangerous" for little Jimmy to walk ir cycle  to school. 
they've managed to make the road to my village primary school a "no go" for school run cars, by social pressure only, but that won't work everywhere.
Meanwhile I (used to) watch the buses daily taking older children from the main town south 8 miles to a state secondary school that has a "good reputation" and bus loads of kids going north from where the good state school is to the fee-paying schools in the big town. 
 

Avatar
kil0ran replied to mikewood | 3 years ago
1 like

Safer to be flowing the opposite direction so you can see which wankpanzer driver is about to kill you but I agree. I'd love to see mandatory space for peds on both sides of urban roads, there are a lot of single pavements near me, some which require you to cross the road multiple times in a short distance

Avatar
shufflingb replied to kil0ran | 3 years ago
0 likes

Last week, on the 7th of May Nature published  "How do children spread the coronavirus? The science still isn’t clear". Have a read, but fwiw there's a reasonable chance we may have bigger problems with sending kids back to school than pavement width  2

Latest Comments