Dinting Primary School take part in speed watch safety campaign

This week, Move More Glossop, GAST (Glossop active sustainable travel team) and PCSO Brian Buller started a Pedestrian safety campaign with Dinting Primary School.

Pupils at the school met with the team a couple of weeks ago to discuss what they wanted to do in this week. The school council discussed lots of ideas and came up with 3 activities that they felt would help them with safety when they are travelling to school in the winter.

The pupils designed posters, which were entered into a competition, with winners to receive vouchers to spend. The posters covered all aspects of pedestrian safety from safe crossing points, to wearing high visibility clothing but the main aim was at drivers to understand that their actions such as speeding and pavement parking can impact pedestrian safety.

It was then decided that the pupils wanted the 3 activities to be speed watch, parking attendants and engine idling monitors. On Monday morning they  carried out the speed watch, the A57 outside the school is 30mph, so the pupils using speed-guns kindly lent by PCSO Brian Buller took to the pavement for 30 minutes to monitor the cars and vehicles passing, they measure nearly 700 cars and found 6 to be speeding despite warning signs out on the pavement. They noted down reg plates, and those cars found to be speeding will be receiving a note from PCSO Brian Buller explaining that they had been caught speeding and to pay more consideration to the speed of the road.

The group were happy to have taken part, and most drivers, slowed down, waved, and thanked them. Having stood outside the school with the pupils, Helen Thornhill from Move More Glossop said: "30mph felt to fast, the draft from larger vehicles could quite easily pull someone under, 20 MPH should be considered outside all school, to ensure safety of those students traveling to school by foot or wheeling."

Later in the week the pupils will take part in pavement parking and consideration to pedestrians and cars parked with their engines idling. They have designed their own parking tickets and fines for cars found to parked inconsiderately for pedestrians or parked with engines idling. This campaign will help the school to reach their mode shift star accreditation. Many schools are looking at alternative ways to encourage walking and wheeling to school, but we need it to be safe to do so, working together we cab make it safe and give young people the opportunity to travel to school on foot or wheel, giving them the best start to their school day, ready to learn and building good habits for later in life.