A PEDESTRIAN crossing outside Forest Primary needs to be light-controlled before a car hits someone, according to the school’s head teacher.
Gary Le Huray said staff and parents were worried by ‘near misses’ that happened on a weekly basis.
He said motorists ignored the 25mph limit outside the school and many failed to stop at the crossing, endangering the special constable and pupils.
Mr Le Huray highlighted the school’s concern after police confirmed they were investigating a report of a car speeding past, narrowly missing special constable Gary Le Cheminant while he was trying to stop traffic to allow children to cross.
The head teacher said he had contacted the Environment Department to request traffic lights but had so far been unsuccessful.
‘We normally get two or three incidents a week where drivers have not stopped to let children cross the road,’ he said.
‘We see enough incidents to warrant our concern that someone could get hit by a car. Some drivers are just not courteous enough.’
The crossing was previously light controlled, when parents dropped pupils off across the road before the school was redeveloped, and Mr Le Huray believes they are needed again.
But the Environment Department has no plans to reinstate them because of problems in the past. It said there had been several incidents of inattentive drivers failing to stop at the lights ‘most probably because they would primarily be on a green signal for the majority of the day’.
Minister Peter Sirett said that traffic management and safety measures outside the school had been reassessed several times.
‘Considering the zebra crossing, “wig-wag” lights, reduced traffic speeds, general warning signs and lines and the positioning of a special constable at the crossing, it is difficult to see what else should be required in order to make cars stop.’
But Mr Le Huray remains convinced that lights would be better and said parents shared his concerns.
‘Our big fear is that one day someone is going to get hurt and I don’t want to be in a position of having to deal with something like that.
‘It is brought up at every PTA meeting,’ he said.
‘The safety of children should be paramount and you would have thought that it would not cost a lot to make the area safer.’
Special constable Mr Le Cheminant, who has worked at the school for 18 months, said the crossing was so dangerous he sometimes dreaded the job.
‘It gets really scary out there,’ he said.
‘Drivers go too fast, for a start. Sometimes I’m out there with a couple of kids and I can see that they don’t want to stop. There have been a few close calls.
‘We wonder sometimes whether it will take someone being hit before something gets done to sort it.’
Article posted on 25th March, 2009 - 2.30pm
6 Article Comments
I drive past that crossing almost everyday. When driving west towards the crossing (from the airport side) there is extremely poor visibility of anyone waiting to cross (from the school side). There is a wall and shrubs/bushes/hedging which obscures the viewing of tall adults waiting to cross, there is no way in the world you could see a child there. I always slow right down and look really carefully to see if i can see a glimpse of anyone through the bushes. On many occasions i have only been able to stop in time because i have really made an effort to slow right down “just in case”. It doesnt look like much bushes when viewed from the ground but to a motorist driving past it is significant enough to block the view of pedestrians. The first thing to do would be to pull out the bushes and maybe part of the wall to see if it makes a difference. I bet it does.
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I completely agree Wil. I often holiday in Guernsey and I know exactly what you mean.
Oh, whilst I’m here I have to say that one of my pet hates is the term “near miss”. This actually implies that someone or something has been hit but was nearly missed. The term should be “near collision”. You can’t nearly miss something.
Anyway, yes something has to be done here.
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I have used that crossing many times. It doesnt matter what side of the road you stand on the traffic just ignores you. I stand on the pavement waiting to cross over to the school and most of the time the traffic just drives straight past me without even slowing down. I got so frustrated the other day after 5 cars drove past I shouted at them isnt anyone going to stop. One day somebody will get killed and its about time enviroment did something about it. If they can put traffic lights at the Saltpans junction for the new school half a mile away why cant they do it right outside the forest school.
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I live very close to the school. Cars constantly ignore the 25mph speed limit. The whole area is dangerous due to the amount of traffic entering the road from both sides from both of the schools and Duques Garage.
Traffic lights would help, but I think that more is needed. Personally I believe that traffic calming measures should be installed. I appreciate that it is a main road, but the safety of the school children should be the priority.
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Sounds like the work to make this crossing safe needs to be started now, the children (and Parents) need a safe place to cross. Dont wait until someone is either injured ……or killed.
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The most startling aspect of this issue is that the lights were taken away because people were ignoring them !!!
And here was me thinking that the response to repeated dangerous law breaking would be to prosecute the offenders ……..
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