ROAD safety officers are continuing to tackle dangerous parking on Keep Clear markings outside schools in Thurrock.
Drivers parking on these markings are given advice and handed leaflets highlighting the dangers involved with information on safer parking.
The Road Safety team at Thurrock Council have found that the problem with dangerous parking directly outside schools is rising, causing more congestion and confusion and increasing the chances of accidents.
Cllr Angie Gaywood, the Council’s portfolio holder for Public Protection said “We are doing everything we can to encourage parents who park irresponsibly outside schools to think about their behaviour and the example they are giving to children. As a parent with children at schools in Thurrock I understand the pressures for working parents to get their children to school on time , however that is no excuse for parking irresponsibly. The council will not tolerate this kind of thoughtlessness which is putting so many of our children at risk, especially when there are easy alternatives.
“Walking is by far the healthier and sustainable form of transport but if parents feel it is essential to use their car, they need to park a short distance from the school and walk the rest of the way.
“To help alleviate this problem, residents may be aware that we will be trialling the CCTV car in the spring to help combat this issue but we will continue to use a number of tactics to ensure our streets can be safer for all our children and residents in Thurrock ”
Why do parents continue to drive their children such small distances to the school rather than walking, I see it on a daily basis with kids being ferried to school less than a mile away, no wonder we are becoming a nation of lazy obese people.
Throughout my entire childhood, I never got a lift to school once! Didn’t matter if it was chucking down with rain or snow, I walked, we all did, I don’t recall anybody’s parents dropping them off outside the school gates. Well do I remember drying sopping wet clothes on the classroom radiators! The trouble today is that too many parents have been spooked into thinking there are dangers on every street corner, or they are off to work themselves so drop the kids off on the way. Times have changed, you won’t stop parents driving kids to school now.
Thurrock Road Safety officers should hit the parkers on the Zig Zags outside Little Thurrock Post Office. Its a pedestrian crossing on a bend , a junction ,a busy main road and Bus Route and they still stop on the Zig Zags AND worse still drivers drive over the Pavement to the Post Office then reverse out on to the busy main road it all points to a fatal accident waiting to happen.