School council raises concerns about road safety around its site

Safety conscious pupils at Driffield Junior School (DJS) are highlighting their concerns about road safety by spearheading a high-profile campaign to raise awareness of problems of speeding, parking and crossing the roads around the school site.

Members of DJS School Council carried out research in December last year where they witnessed a number of safety concerns.

They saw examples of inappropriate parking on double yellow lines and blocking access to driveways, as well as children being dropped off onto the road.

The pupils noted children riding bikes and scooters on the footpath, which was busy with pedestrians, as well as riding them across the road rather than pushing them.

They also saw children and adults crossing the road in unsafe places and witnessed traffic speeding up to get through the traffic lights before they change.

Now they have created a video which has been shared with parents highlighting their concerns and have produced posters which will be put up around the school.

Year 3 pupil Perrie, aged eight, said: “When we carried out our research, we found some people were speeding and some people parking in the wrong places and we felt we needed to share what we found to make people do the right thing.”

Eleven-year-old Kaleb, in Year 6, added: “I think speeding is the biggest problem around the school, especially when people speed up to get across the traffic lights. I want people to slow down because I worry about people having an accident and getting injured.”

DJS School Council invited Driffield Mayor Cllr Mark Blakeston into school to discuss their worries and ask for his help in spreading the message that they want people to act more responsibly on the roads around the school.

Cllr Blakeston said that he would put the issue on the agenda of the next meeting of Driffield Town Council on 7th March and invited the pupils to attend to present their campaign.

He said: “I think it is brilliant that the school encourages its pupils to get involved in issues such as this.

“The school council helps to empower the children and I think it is a good experience that they understand that these issues exist and that they are not always easy to fix.

“Everyone on the school council is passionate about road safety and from my point of view I am honoured that they have asked me along to help them to raise awareness.

“As I told the children, I have put the issue on the agenda for the Driffield Town Council meeting in March and have asked if any of the children would like to attend and raise their concerns and tell us what they would like us to do.”

As well as contacting the town council, the children also plan to lead school assemblies and involve the police and fire brigade to highlight the issue of access for emergency services when people park irresponsibly.

Headteacher of Driffield Junior School Linda Laird said she hopes the campaign will help to improve safety for the school community.

She said: “We have been concerned for some time about safety around the school site and I have communicated this to parents on many occasions.

“The DJS School Council were very keen to get involved in this project and were quite shocked by what they saw when they spent some time outside before and after school.

“I have been very impressed with their commitment to the cause and hope that their efforts make people think about how they park, drive, cross the roads etc in order to improve safety for our school community.”