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news
Drayton Park Road Cycleway artist's impression via Islington CouncilNorth London school head blocks new cycleway with cones, claiming cyclists endanger pupils
The head teacher of a North London primary school is using traffic cones to block a cycleway that runs past it, claiming that cyclists are putting children’s lives in danger. However, London Cycling Campaign has pointed out that by blocking the route, the head is endangering cyclists – including parents and children who choose to ride to and from the school.
Completed in May this year, the northern section of Cycleway 38 runs from Finsbury Park to Highbury Fields.
A four-week consultation by Islington Council in autumn 2019 found that 83 per cent of local residents were in favour of the scheme.
A fully segregated section of the route passes Drayton Park Primary School, a couple of hundred metres from Arsenal FC’s Emirates Stadium.
However, the Islington Gazette reports that the school’s headmaster, Damien Parrott, has started blocking the route during school run times.
In a letter sent to parents of pupils at the school, he said: “A number of near misses between cyclists and children, have caused aggressive confrontations in front of our children.”
He said that he “came to the conclusion that the situation is a very dangerous one” after going to look at the cycle lane himself.
“I watched someone cycle down the lane sitting up, not holding onto their handlebars and thus with no quick access to their brakes,” he continued.
“As the cycle lane is curved before our gate, with cars parked on the road side, visibility for both pedestrians and cyclists is limited.
“The consequences of a single mistake, in which a cyclist hit one of our children, could be disastrous. Cycling accidents lead to serious injury and death.”
He added: “I want to stop putting the cones out as soon as possible, because a better solution has been put in place by the appropriate authorities.”
The head teacher will be meeting with council officials shortly to highlight his concerns and try and resolve the situation.
A spokesperson for Islington Council told the newspaper: “We’re determined to create a fairer, greener, healthier Islington for everyone, with more pleasant, safer spaces for people to walk and cycle.
“The safety of children is absolutely vital to this, and we’re meeting with the executive head of Drayton Park School this week to discuss the concerns that have been raised.
“The cycleway offers a route for people, including families with children, to travel more safely in our borough, and will help to improve air quality and reduce emissions.”
LCC Senior Infrastructure Campaigner Simon Munk welcomed the fact that the head teacher and council will be meeting to discuss the issue – but pointed out that blocking the lane would endanger cyclists, including parents and children travelling to and from the school.
He said: “It is obviously right that Islington Council and the school work to mitigate any specific issues around the design of the track and car parking next to it. But it is dangerous for this cycle track to be blockaded with cones – this poses serious risks for children and parents cycling to and from the school, as well as everyone else.
“More, we need schools to work with councils to reduce the climate emissions and road danger of the school run – that primarily comes from cars and driving, not people cycling,” he added.
When the route, which was designed by the council and funded by Transport for London, was opened in May, Councillor Rowena Champion, Islington’s Executive Member for Environment and Transport, said: “We are determined to create a fairer, greener and healthier future for Islington, where everyone is able to travel easily around the borough and incorporate exercise into their daily routine.
“This new route will help make it safer to walk and cycle as we move out of lockdown, enabling local people to enjoy our borough in a way that cuts down on air pollution and congestion by reducing unnecessary car journeys.
“Walking, cycling and wheeling are convenient, inexpensive and fun ways to travel around the borough, and we look forward to seeing local people enjoy the benefits of the new Cycleway.”
Will Norman, London’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner, added: “Enabling people to walk and cycle around London is absolutely vital to ensuring a green recovery from the pandemic, and I’m thrilled to see this innovative new cycle route open in Islington.
"New infrastructure is being delivered at record pace across the capital and new routes such as Cycleway 38 mean more people are able to leave their cars at home and get on their bikes instead.
"We’ll continue to work closely with Islington Council to make the borough an even better place for walking and cycling for all.”
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.
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96 comments
Ever worked in a school Eburt?
Radical idea for the head teacher..... make sure your pupils knos how to cross a road safely, by not looking at their phone, looking both ways properly and ensurinb if is safe before crossing. Might also want to look into injury and death statistics between motor vehicles hitting a pedestrian and cycles doing so.
Don't even need that - just use the provided zebra crossing overseen by lollipop person. And TBH most school kids do exactly that, so I think something else is going on here, like being dropped off (and collected) by car right into the cycle lane, as if it were the pavement.
Poor Mr Parrott is going to have an absolute meltdown if he sees the official stats for what injures and kills child pedestrians on their way to and from school.
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://assets.pu...
In the meantime he is surely leaving himself liable to significant criminal and civil litigation should his cones result in injury to a member of the public.
Do what?
But you're ok with a road outside your school????????*&%^$£
Sack him for behaviour unbecoming of a head teacher 🙄
That is a high bar indeed.....
Literally every day that I cycle my children into school, I am having to warn them to beware of cars pulling in or out of the kerbside or onto the pavement without paying attention to who or what might be there. It's a complete jungle.
Can you imagine the uproar if the head ( or I ) just coned off the road and demanded the council make it safer before I let cars in again?
I can't see what the installation looks like, so I imagine the cars are parked between the main carriageway and the cycle lane.
Interesting that near misses between cyclists and children has resulted in confrontations in front of the children. Children alighting from parked cars and strolling across the cycle lane without looking, (which parents would never consider acceptable for crossing the road) leading to confrontation between parents/drivers and the cyclists?
I assume he also puts cones out on the road blocking it before and after school, as this is where his children are more likely to be injured. I'm sure if I went there I could detect drivers on drugs (Since I smell cannabis from vehicles about every other bike ride, and I can't believe the people of Fiinsbury park are less inclined that those local to me) and also drivers distracted by phones. Or is the road no a risk because the children only have to go as far as the parking bays between the cycle lane and the road?
Also riding no hands is not appropriate in such a location either.
This is the area now.
Then compare to how it used to be here. The school gates are right where all the cars are parked in both pictures. I have never seen a school without no parking zigzags outside the gates before. Why isn't he as animated about that?
Those cones made all teh difference....
Is that drain cover deliberately set that way to catch cyclists?
best leave the left hand cone in place all the time.
If that drain cover is as pictured, then it is illegal. It is illegal to have drains with slots in the line of travel.
It's like a criss-cross one rather than just slotted. Maybe the light is only catching the lines in one direction.
I can't see any issue with the infrastructure here, clearly marked as a crossing and with a crossing guard. No reason for anyone not to stop. Are cyclists assuming the road crossing and cycle lane crossing are seperate, or is there something i can't see restricting their view of the crossing guard?
Also those cones don't really block cyclists, I'd ride through there without stopping, but would slow them down, which may be his intent.
Perhaps the cones could be more effectively deployed along the edge of the main carriageway, until more permanent markings to stop parking can be put in place.
A stretch of yellow zig-zags would get rid of the designed-in dooring zone too. (See the parked car behind Mr. Lollipop.) As Badger says, every other school has them.
Perhaps railings between road and cycle lane would dissuade drop-offs into the bike lane, protecting children and cyclists alike.
I think I could squeeze between those cones anyway, what does 'Whacko' do then, cane in the spokes?
No doubt he still has a suitable collection.
The entrance is around the corner, with this nice bike parking outside.
LOL at the thought of leaving bikes locked up all day on the pavement in finsbury park. Only useful for parents while picking up their kids.
If thats intended for the children it should be inside the fence.
Ah, but those parents probably don't think that the cycle lane is a real traffic way...
Presumably the council have immediately advised him that he's committing a Highways Act offence and to remove the obstruction immediately?
Sounds to me like someone is wilfully obstructing free passage along a highway...
Would you be doing anything illegal by stopping, picking up said traffic cones and moving them (picking them up and launching them) into school grounds before you go back on your way on the segregated cycle path?
Or at the very least contact the police to report a private institution is blocking access to a public right of way?
If I rode that route, those cones wouldn't be there long, and I'm not sure why local cyclists tolerate them.
Cyclists have had several near misses, so despite clearly stating that parked cars are reducing the visibility for both parties, he want's to have a go at - cyclists.
Twattery of the highest order, that.
The feigned concern from Jo Cardow "Some of the cyclists are going faster than the 20mph speed limit being imposed on cars, and some of them are on e-bikes as well."..... does someone want to tell her that around 85% of motor cars drive faster than the posted 20mph speed limits? And that a car travelling at that speed hitting a child will do far more damage than a cyclist.
I wonder how much of this is down to the drivers of cars who now find that they are blocking the roads when they are dropping their children off and as a result are claiming the cycle paths are a danger to have them removed so they no longer block the roads with their Chelsea Tractors?
I think she gave herself away when when she described the speed limit as "being imposed on cars". Very loaded language - she's clearly upset by the speed limit. Maybe it slows down her genuine child-killing mode of transport by a few seconds and she resents the flowing cycle lane.
But what made me laugh was "It's literally like the M25. Bikes are bombing down there at a rate of knots unaware there are children coming out of the school."
It's literally nothing like the M25, where there are no bikes, no bombing and no schools for children to be coming out of.
Illegal ebikes too zooming along at > 25kph
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