Peterborough pupils campaign for safer roads outside their school

Pupils unveiled ‘parking buddies’ outside West Town Primary Academy this week to encourage parents to think about where they stop at the start and end of the school day.

Children also made posters and banners as part of the new campaign, which was launched during Road Safety Week.

West Town Primary Academy moved in to the new school building on Midland Road in 2016. The intake of pupils increased and there have been issues with parents parking on roads with double yellow lines outside the school causing a potential road safety risk.

Pupils are also taking up roles as junior road safety officers and the school is encouraging parents to sign up to a safer parking pledge.

The Mayor of Peterborough councillor Gul Nawaz attended the launch along with members of the city council’s parking enforcement team to show support and learn more about the campaign.

Hannah Quinn, principal at the school, said: “The school should be an area where everyone feels safe to cross the road and the volume of cars parking directly outside the school means this is often not the case.

“We have a duty to protect these children and must make sure the area at the front of school is not dangerous. We have made various attempts to communicate to parents about being considerate when parking at school and making them aware of nearby areas where it legal and safe to do so. We have also encouraged walking or cycling to school, where possible.

“This latest campaign really involved West Town Primary Academy’s pupils and they came up with some great ideas for the poster competition.

“Working with Peterborough City Council, pupils, parents and the wider school community we hope this campaign will send the right message and that problem parking reduces outside the school.”

Jenny Wright, road safety officer for Peterborough City Council, said: “During 2018, 672 people were injured on Peterborough roads.

“With the arrival of shorter days and darker nights, statistics reveal this is the time of year that leads to a rise in road casualties, particularly for the most vulnerable groups, such as children.

“As pupils have designed the banners, we hope that parents will pay attention to them and park safely in other areas instead.”

For more information about the Road Safety Week visit: www.roadsafetyweek.org.uk