Category Archives: schools

The Latest News from 20’s Plenty for Darlington

Posted on by Posted in 20MPH, children, safety, schools, speed limits, traffic calming

Darlington Friends of the Earth’s Matthew Snedker continues to go from strength to strength with his work on the 20′ Plenty for Darlington campaign. Here is his latest update on how the campaign to introduce 20 mph speed limits on residential roads – with out speed humps – is getting on.

First some national news
The Department for Transport has announced that it is relaxing the requirements for 20 mph signage. In a move to remove red-tape and allow local authorities more power to implement 20 mph schemes without unnecessary cost and constraints, the DfT has announced new relaxations to allow far more flexible town-wide 20 mph schemes.

Liverpool city council is entering into consultation over plans that could result in 70% of the cities roads having 20 mph speed limits. It is estimated that this plan could provide savings of over £5.2 million per year in costs associated with traffic casualties.

What has been happening in Darlington
After our successful Green Fair stall we were invited to attend the launch of Green Park’s new play area. It is a lovely space and local residents have worked very hard to update and improve the play facilities.
We met local residents and talked about all the benefits that 20’s Plenty for Darlington will bring. Face painting and the ‘Breaking distance challenge’ proved popular, we sold car & bike stickers and we added another 30 signatures to our petition.

We are pleased to announce that we have received support from George Dent Nursery School. Carol Dawson, head teacher, said “When the policy was explained to me I thought ‘What’s not to like?’ If you care about children and other vulnerable groups how could you not support this campaign. It has been proved to be successful in other parts of the country and it’s time we had it in Darlington.”

More support comes from Acorn Dairy. Graham Tweddle  said “a 20 mph speed limit, would help reduce the noise generated by vehicles using the roads at night and also improve the fuel economy.” He also went on to say “What is of more concern, is the increasing number of sleeping policemen (of different styles) used by the council. These do have a significant impact on vehicle suspension.”

I have already had an approach from one councillor asking that roads in their ward be included in any trial of 20 mph speed limits.
Does your councillor know that you want slower speed on the roads where you live?

Community Carnival
We will be at the Community Carnival, with a stall in Stanhope Park. The Carnival takes place on Saturday 25th June between 11 am and 5 pm. Please come and meet the team and find out the latest news.

The next month…
I am arranging a meeting with Michael Straugheir, Traffic Management Officer, Durham Constabulary. We will be discussing the 20’s Plenty policy and looking at how to make Darlington’s streets saver for all road users.

I will be looking to meet chairs of the Borough Council’s scrutiny committees to discuss a formal request that they investigate the 20’s Plenty for Darlington policy.

You can get involved

As well as coming to see us at the Community Carnival there are plenty of ways to get involved:

  • Talk to you friends, neighbours and work colleagues about the benefits of 20’s Plenty.
  • Print out copies of our campaign leaflet and pass them around.
  • Print out copies of our petition and collect signatures, please ask for e-mail addresses so that we can keep people up to date with the campaign.
  • Contact you councillors. Let them know of your support for the campaign and ask for their opinions on road humps, child casualty rates and the latest news fro the Department of Transport. 
If you want to help with the campaign, you can contact Matthew at darlington@20splentyforus.org.uk

Child Traffic Safety – Compare and Contrast

Posted on by Posted in accident, cycling in Europe, schools 3 Comments

Netherlands-based Mark Wagenbuur has just uploaded another fascinating video on his youtube channel, this time about child traffic training in the Netherlands. Little needs to be said, except that Mark states towards the end that there were 15 child traffic deaths last year in the Netherlands. This compares with 124 in the UK in 2008. The UK population is 61.4m, the Netherlands 16.5m. Do your maths. Then have a look a look at this video and think for a second about how it differs from the UK.

The vast amount of energy, money and peoples’ focus on self-defence measures for cyclists in the UK appears to be diverting us from the real problems.

School car-exclusion zones

Posted on by Posted in cars, children, schools 2 Comments

While searching for articles about 20mph zones, I came across a Northern Echo article about a car exclusion zone set up a five minute walk from a school in Durham – Pupils launch car-exclusion zone.

It’s not clear from the article whether it is all cars which are excluded from the zone, or if it’s just a voluntary/suggested zone for parents dropping their children off at the school. I’d guess it’s the latter.

I wonder what difference this would make to Darlington’s traffic patterns if it were implemented across all schools in the town?

Banning cars from near schools

Posted on by Posted in schools 1 Comment

Banning vehicles from the vicinity of schools could help reverse the decline in walking seen in the UK in recent decades, said the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP).

At present, 38 per cent of all journeys under two miles – which could be covered by up to 30 minutes’ brisk walking – are taken by car, adding to the “twin crises” of obesity and climate change, the report warned.

– ‘Ban cars near schools to tackle problem of obesity’

No mention of bikes in the article, but an interesting idea. (A bike could make the 2 mile journey in 12 minutes, assuming a 10mph average speed…)

Some comments on this from Darlington’s Cllr Mike Cartwright on his blog also: Obesity, Cars and CO2. In the comments for that post (which you can only access via the main page of the blog, not the individual post), Kate Davies makes the point that working mothers may be more seriously affected by this proposal as they need to be able to drop the kids off and then get on to work. However, if the exclusion zone were fairly small, they would only need to walk the last bit to the school, and they may get to work faster if the traffic congestion is eased.

Residents call for safety move on The Broadway

Posted on by Posted in 20MPH, McMullen Road, schools, traffic calming

A petition is being prepared by residents of a Darlington street who believe an accident is imminent because of poor road markings.

Residents of The Broadway, off Yarm Road, in Eastbourne, have complained to ward councillor Ian Haszeldine that the absence of road markings at the busy junction with Yarm Road is a danger to road users.

The matter is compounded by extra traffic using The Broadway for access to Heathfield Primary School and as a shortcut for the industrial estates in Lingfield.

Residents are calling for the road to be made a 20mph zone, and for extra markings to keep the junction free from parked cars.

Heathfield School is one which has had good results in encouraging its pupils to cycle to school and it would be a shame if safety fears led to a decline in the numbers cycling to school, or if the school felt it had to discourage cycling as has happened at at least one Darlington school.

Ironically, the very thing which encourages cars to make use of this street as a rat run is also what makes it key to cycling in the area; it enables access to the Lingfield industrial estates without the need to ride on the large McMullen Road/Yarm Road roundabout.