CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure

The Magical Disappearing cars of Bruntsfield (and other schools’ improvements)

(21 posts)
  • Started 12 years ago by recombodna
  • Latest reply from pringlis

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  1. recombodna
    Member

    [*]Yesterday afternoon Bruntsfield Primary school pick up zone was a magical fairytail world where double parking cars didn't exist as the handsome knight had slain them all....( or maybe it was the policeman standing at the side of the road telling people they couldn't park there....) it begs the question ....where did all these cars go?? did they find the mythical parking spaces that they all say don't exist? what ever it was great to see some direct action by the school for a change.....


    IMAG0604 by muzza!!, on Flickr


    IMAG0602 by muzza!!, on Flickr


    IMAG0603 by muzza!!, on Flickr

    .....and this morning it was .....

    ........all back to normal. Same as ever!!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  2. Roibeard
    Member

    Liberton Primary had a PC chatting to each driver as they drove into the school staff car park (where parents are requested not to dropp off).

    I wasn't on the Primary school run this morning so didn't see the (lack of) persistent impact of the chat.

    Robert

    Posted 12 years ago #

  3. SRD
    Moderator

    glad to know that my hour and a half meeting with the headteacher wasn't in vain :(

    recombo - did you sign and return your slip to show that you'd read the letter from the junior road safety officers?

    Posted 12 years ago #

  4. recombodna
    Member

    @srd no it's probably still at the bottom of a school bag unread....I'll look it out tonight. I did notice the Junior road safety officers poster up on the wall n the hall next to this poster though....
    IMAG0579 by muzza!!, on Flickr

    Might be time to hassle them about the cycle training scheme again. I got my "certificate" last week yay!! I did the course on the 8th of march... lolzzz!!!!

    By the way you had a meeting with the head teacher for AN HOUR AND A HALF????? oh you poor poor thing. I was in her office for 5 minutes once and I'm still having sleepless nights .......

    Posted 12 years ago #

  5. LaidBack
    Member

    Sciennes have banners up too. Maybe need to just cone off the area if this doesn't work. In fact pavement should be widened if space allows. Know they need space for emergency vehicles but that could still happen. Basically if something looks like a parking space then it will be used as one.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  6. Iratesheep
    Member

    The number of very large cars that park on the double yellows around the junction near East Preston primary is also depressing.
    I just want to shout "If you moved you would make it safer for EVERYONES children"

    But I don't. I have usually used up all my ire cycling back along Ratcliffe terrace.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  7. Dave
    Member

    The only real solution is to engineer out the problem - if you built out the pavement and bollarded it, there wouldn't be room for abusive/dangerous parking so it wouldn't happen.

    It's the same as with the QBC. Nothing will persuade people not to park all over it, even a traffic warden just results in a temporary "moving on bubble" migrating down the street. Making the QBC route one-way (and taking the hit on the buses being slightly detoured coming back) would fix it properly though.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  8. Uberuce
    Member

    I was called in to work on a day off not so long ago and found myself at South Morningside Primary at 3.15pm. I really had no idea just how complete and extensive the disregard for the bus lane down Comiston Road is at picking up time. Chelsea tractors as far as the eye can see.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  9. recombodna
    Member

    SRD's tandem would take to the parking space quite nicely....... I'm looking at buying a bakfiets from a football dad...... That would also take some yellow lineage.....

    Posted 12 years ago #

  10. kaputnik
    Moderator

    My solution would be to designate the streets onto which the primary school faces a zone in which the school collects all fines issued for double yellow / double parking etc. The beats of cooncil wardens would be scheduled such that there's some wardens at each school for the 20-30 minutes before opening and after closing. The rest of the day they could spend on their regular patrols.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  11. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    St John's Primary in Duddingston is horrific in the mornings. Cars parked all over the bike lanes. They've had the police there a few times directing traffic, which really should be a sign that things have gone too far.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  12. SRD
    Moderator

    I tried to get the headteacher at East Preston street to do something about the parents who dropped and opened car doors , and pulledout without signalling. used t be terrifying. Now I know I should have contacted police as headteachers like to claim they have no power over parents parking. The east preston street teacher just ignored my emails.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  13. gembo
    Member

    head teachers are useful

    As Tom waits said

    And you can't find your Waitress not even with a Geiger counter

    But

    You just can't get served without her

    Posted 12 years ago #

  14. Nelly
    Member

    " Sciennes have banners up too"

    Indeed, and my wife tells the zig zag parkers off also - serial offender, picking up his grandson, justifies it by saying "but its only a minute hen".

    She has now told him he will be photographed and reported to community police - which was their suggestion, as it happens.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  15. chdot
    Admin

    "
    Merton MPS (@MPSMerton)
    14/10/2012 21:59
    Don't park on "Keep Clear" lines outside schools... Very effective message in this photo! http://pic.twitter.com/qy3MV4oW

    ”

    Posted 12 years ago #

  16. Kim
    Member

    They had one of those banners onside Cramond Primary when I was teaching cycling there a few years ago. It didn't stop parents bring their kids bike in the car, still at least they did have cycle training.

    There is an issue with the approach to child cycling in Edinburgh (Scotland, UK...), we train children at 8 or 9, but then expect them to use a "dual network", where to get any where they have to use painted lanes on roads which are intended for "experienced, confident cyclist" of 12 years of above. Whereas, if you go to the Netherlands (and an increasing number of place across Europe) they simply make the roads safer for all.

    I am all in favour of cycle training (that is which I am a cycling instructor), but unless you make the road safer by getting the infrastructure right, it is not going to achieve the best return on the money invested. Most of the kids being trained do not continue to cycle once they reach secondary school.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  17. SRD
    Moderator

    Kim, surely you're conflating a whole bundle of complex issues here? of course the banners won't stop all the drivers, but they might make them think a little and be more careful. Or not.

    I gather that Cramond's strategy has been quite effective in making the area around the school safer for pedestrians and cyclists. If that's wrong, would be interesting to know more. (they have three cul-de--sacs around the school, as compared to Bruntsfield's one)

    Yes roads should be designed for all, and not just for cars.

    But surely the lack of cycling to secondary is much more complicated (as has been discussed at length here - particularly effectively by those who have/have had teenage cyclists in their households). As someone who never cycled to secondary school (possibly because I lived on top of one hill and both my junior high and highschool were on top of another hill), but did cycle to sports and Uni, it might be interesting to track cyclists through a longer cycle and see how many return to cycling at various points in their lives, despite some periodic gaps.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  18. cc
    Member

    Making drivers think a little might well help a little.

    Making drivers (and everyone else) do the right thing by altering the layout of the road, so that it guides them into doing the right thing without thinking about it, would achieve more.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  19. chdot
    Admin

    Reviving this thread.

    Get the impression that not a lot has happening around most Edinburgh schools in the past decade.

    Notable exception Sciennes - mostly because the Sick Kids has finally moved.

    BUT

    CEC is currently ‘working on’ 39 schools.

    Not seen a list, or ‘scope’.

    Posted 1 year ago #

  20. Dave
    Member

    Ten years is a good long time. Enough for a few longitudinal study topics if only we'd known ;-)

    Posted 1 year ago #

  21. pringlis
    Member

    There just doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency around school streets, it's bizarre to me given the popularity of them and ease of implementation for most.

    To give you a taste of just how dysfunctional things are. Canaan Lane which serves all three of Canaan Lane/South Morningside/St Peters has been closed to through traffic for three years, first through Spaces for People signage then physically blocked by flats being built at the Morningside Road end. All throughout parents/teachers/etc have been saying "this is great, can we have a School Street based on this please?", everyone at the council says "yes, that's a good idea", the parent councils worked with our Road Safety liaison officer on the School Travel Plan which lists it as a priority, but nothing concrete ever actually happened.

    Through that inaction the road reopened to through traffic in April when the builders pack up their scaffolding, so our local councillors puts in emergency order to close it again which passes unanimously at the Transport and Environment Committee ( https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/transport/edinburgh-parents-in-morningside-persuade-council-to-look-at-reimposing-canaan-lane-road-closure-near-schools-4115040 ). We think "great, they'll stick a planter at the end under an ETRO and shut it off again in the next couple of weeks" but no, we've been told it's likely to be October until it can be closed again!

    If I was building a block of flats they'd have it closed tomorrow...

    Posted 1 year ago #

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