MARK EASTWOOD SET ON MAKING THE WALK TO SCHOOL SAFER
Pupils in Dewsbury were joined by Mark Eastwood MP last week (Thursday 10 February), where he heard first-hand about the problems they experience on their journeys to school, including dangerous driving and pavement parking.
Mark joined pupils and staff from Pentland Infant and Nursery School for a School Route Audit, which aimed to identify improvements that could be made to local streets to enable more families to walk to school. The audit was led by Living Streets.
A generation ago, 70 per cent of primary school-aged children walked to school, now it’s less than half1. The Government has a target to increase the number of children walking to school to 55 per cent by 2025. Living Streets is working with schools to help reverse the decline in walking rates.
Pentland Infant and Nursery School currently takes part in WOW – the walk to school challenge from Living Streets. WOW schools typically see walking rates increase by 23 per cent with a 30 per cent reduction in cars driving to the school gates.
Mark Eastwood, MP for Dewsbury said:
“It was great to meet pupils and hear about the fantastic work the school is doing with Living Streets to encourage their pupils to get more active, helping them stay healthy and happy whilst making school gates safer and doing their bit to reduce air pollution.”
Jessie Davidson, Schools Coordinator, Living Streets said:
“Walking to school is a fantastic opportunity for children to get active and socialise, all while helping reduce road danger, congestion and air pollution.
“However, there are many reasons that families don’t feel safe or comfortable walking to school. Speeding vehicles, cars parked on pavements and unsafe crossings can all act as barriers. This audit is the first step in identifying what could be done to help more families swap the school run for a school walk.”
Mrs Pat Barker, Deputy Head Teacher, Pentland Infant and Nursery School said:
“The children are delighted to be working with Living Streets, they feel passionate about keeping everyone safe at Pentland. They went out as pupil ambassadors and saw at first-hand how motorists do not always respect pedestrians. These children were either six or seven years old; they had more ideas about road safety than many grownups.”
The group of pupils on the audit helped to assess the environment and suggest changes that could be made.
Bilal, pupil at Pentland Infant and Nursery School said:
“I helped (Jessie) measure the space between the wall and the car on the pavement, it left a tiny space. A pushchair could not get through. This made me feel sad.”
Another pupil, Bin-Yameen reported how he felt happy to see a car driving down Pentland Road slowly, saying, “he followed the rules, but he didn’t when he parked on the pavement; this made me feel angry”.
We stopped to look at the road signs at the top of Pentland Road, Emaan reported how she felt when she saw a car reverse down the road- “it made me feel scared, because I thought that it was going to crash!”
The walk to school project is being delivered by Living Streets, in partnership with West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
A report from the audit will be written up and presented to Kirklees Council to consider possible improvements to the routes to school.
