Camera car set to tackle parking safety fear

Critics have branded them spy cameras but yesterday it was announced they will patrol the 
area immediately outside schools in the city at pick-up and drop-
off times, issuing £70 fixed 
penalty notices to cars parked illegally – and unsafely – from next month.

York Council is introducing a new CCTV road safety camera car to help make children safer on their journey to and from school following fears about dangerous parking.

Coun Janet Looker, the council’s cabinet member for children’s services, said: “Many headteachers have expressed concerns to us about the inappropriate parking outside their schools and in response to these concerns we are introducing the road safety camera car.”

Jane Nellar, headteacher of St Lawrence C of E VA Primary School said: “We all want our children to be safe; if this initiative saves the life, or prevents the injury, of even one child and makes drivers think carefully about where to park, then it will have had a great impact.”

The council says the use of CCTV camera cars has proven successful in other authorities in deterring illegal parking and thereby increasing safety around schools and it says the car will also be able to visit schools more frequently than enforcement officers alone are able to do.

It forms part of a wider initiative – the Parents’ Parking Pledge – which encourages parents and carers across York to pledge their support to parking safely and considerately when taking their children to and from school. However council bosses say that while similar schemes have helped tackle the problem elsewhere, alone they do not prevent inconsiderate parking.

Deputy Chief Constable Tim Madgwick, of North Yorkshire Police, said: “I am very pleased that North Yorkshire Police are supporting this campaign which I know is very important to parents with young children at school.

“It is really important that the roads around schools are as safe as possible and hopefully this campaign will prompt people to be more considerate and bear the safety of children in mind.

“It’s great that the children at schools in the City of York are getting involved in promoting the scheme and I would encourage as many people as possible to take part, back the campaign and help make our children safer.”

Coun Looker said that the percentage of children travelling to school by car nationally has doubled.

“In York around 30 per cent of primary and 10 per cent of secondary school children are now driven to school, the majority of these journeys are less than one mile.

“Working with schools and parents we hope to further highlight that there are other options available than driving to school, but if parents choose this option then we want to encourage them to do this safely and join this scheme to make children feel safer on their way to and from school,” Coun Looker added.

Visit the website: www.york.gov.uk/schoolparking to find out 
more about the road safety camera car.