Publish photos of cars that flout school parking rules and put children at risk – The Yorkshire Post says

Yet the increased risk of accidents is due to a selfish minority of parents and guardians who persist in dropping off children directly outside the school entrance with no thought for the safety of others.

Now, thanks to one of the Department for Transport’s more enlightened decisions, local authorities like North Yorkshire County Council are looking to take advantage of the School Streets initiative that gives them the authority to effectively create car-free zones in the immediate vicinity of schools in order to afford greater protection to pedestrians and cyclists.

Yet it is also naive to resist the advent of such schemes on the grounds that there are insufficient police to enforce the new restrictions.

Frankly, there will never be enough traffic officers for there to be a dedicated patrol twice a day outside every school in the county. Equally, it is disrespectful of teachers to expect them to become traffic wardens – their duties are already onerous.

As such, the best way to improve safety outside schools is a combination of restrictions like no stopping zig-zag zones, civil engineering schemes such as chicanes to slow passing traffic and an old-fashioned virtue that this country ignores at its peril – common sense.

If motorists had the foresight to think more carefully about where to stop on their school run, with the prospect that photos of offending vehicles are posted on the social media channels of the schools concerned, then the threat will be diminished overnight.

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