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Campaign to Improve Road Safety at School Gates

November 15 2021 - January 1 2023

Edinburgh Steiner School encourages all pupils aged 11+, parents and employees to complete the Council’s Road Safety Survey by 22nd February, 2022.

This is the forum to get the changes you’d like.”

Road Safety and Active Travel Liaison Officer, Mark Symonds.

 

Parents/Carers

Pupils (Class 6 upwards):

ESS Staff

 

 

Timeline of campaign:

 

2021

September

  • 7th – ESS has no School crossing patrols (SCP) .
  • 9th – fit note received by ESS from SCP. ESS request temporary replacement. ESS informed Council are severely short-staffed and has no provision. Notified the School’s legal position is that regrettably staff members or parents are not allowed to temporarily fulfil this position; and advised that the road safety of the pupils is the responsibility of the parent.

October

  • 8th  – parent writes to Transport Department requesting pedestrian crossing.

November

  • 5th – Transport Department letter of response, confirming the Council has no provision available to cover for any scheduled School Crossing Patrol Guide absences at any of the SCP sites situated throughout the City. Road Safety add ESS school gates to the list for a PV2 assessment.
  • 11th – Edinburgh Steiner School submit a petition to the City of Edinburgh Council: Improve the original/current traffic calming measures at 60 Spylaw Road, Edinburgh, to make them fit for purpose for this 20mph school & kindergarten zone.
  • 13th – parent witnesses cameras used for PV2 assessment being removed from sites.
  • 15th – parent met with Scottish Greens Councillor, Melanie Main to raise the concern of safety for our children, following ten weeks of having no lollipop person and darker days decreasing visibility. Main is aware of the ~1000+ volume increase of cars created by nearby school alone; and notes complaints have also been made by residents concerning the rat-running (some requesting road closures). Her recommendation is to direct efforts at campaigning to close the road during school-run hours, such as what is in already in place at a dozen primaries in the capital (School Street Zone initiative)
  • 16th – ESS apply for emergency School Street Zone to Stacey Monteith-Skelton, Senior Engineer (Road Safety) leading the new tool called “emergency orders”, which allows the Council to put in measures first and evaluate them later. Response: Road Safety Survey to be carried out soon. ESS priority, as temporary Spaces for People measures are in place at site.
  • – Child safety issues discussed at Merchiston Community Council meeting, attended by ESS parent and Lib Dem Councillor Neil Ross. MCC noted they fully support our efforts to have a safe pedestrian crossing and speed controlling measures installed. ESS will follow this up with providing Councillor Ross with our School Travel Plan.
  • 19th – Road Safety Survey issued to ESS parents, staff and pupils. ESS support Council in promoting School Crossing Patrol (SCP) vacancies
  • 25th – Petition is validated against Council’s petitions criteria.
  • 30th – Petition goes live for residents with EH-postcodes only to support. It must attract a minimum of 200 signatories by the closing date of 10th January, 2022. 

December

  • 14th – Petition supported by over 200 signatures. Notified it will be considered by the next meeting of the Transport and Environment Committee (TEC) which is on 27 January 2022. ESS can submit written statement by 5pm on 19th January, to be circulated to all members.

2022

January

  • 11th –  Notified a PV2 crossing assessment was undertaken on Spylaw Road at Edinburgh Steiner School in October 2021, resulting in an adjusted PV2 value of 0.274.  Value of 0.3 and over considered for a suite of measures that includes a zebra crossing.
  • 12th – ESS requests review of accuracy of PV2 assessment and clarification on how it has been collated, specifically in regards to the volume and percentage of vulnerable pedestrians, the number of trip ends factored in, and whether the assessment could be recalculated to take account of ‘near miss’ reports within the accident factor.
  • 20th – Road Safety response: Letter SR1101949 As speeding concerns have been raised, site has been added to list for a traffic survey to be carried out in spring. Traffic data allows the Council to direct resources to the locations where there is significant speed limit non-compliance. Copies of PV2 Assessment – 1, PV2 raw data and Speed Survey given.
  • 21st – ESS challenge 65 pedestrians per hour between the AM period of assessment (row 53); and 74% adult ie 48 adults (row 64) and 13% unaccompanied/children, totalling 17 children (rows 67-68). 275 children recorded as present by ESS (10 absent) on date of assessment. Most under 16; and over 50 in EY. Also carriageway width noted as 5.4m.
  • 25th – Road Safety response A surveyor is to revisit site to check road width outside the school. ESS requested illustrative PV2 based on correct width of road and at least 275 pupils arriving between 8am – 9am. ESS assesses roll demographic:
The number of enrolled pupils is 284.

This results in ESS-specific pedestrian traffic at school gates as follows:

 
Children pedestrians:
Number of pupils aged 15 and younger: 246
Number of pupils aged 11 and under, assumed to be accompanied by an adult: 163

Adult pedestrians:
Number of accompanying adults calculated by taking:

a. number of children aged 11 and under (163) and deducting total number of siblings also 11 and younger (41);

as well as b. total number of accompanying parents who are also ESS staff (10): 112  

Total number of ESS staff: 79

Total number young adults (pupils) aged 16+: 38
Total ESS-specific pedestrians: 475 (229 adults, 246 children)
Using this conservative** total gives an unmodified PV2 value of 0.74: 475 x 3952  = 0.74111875 x 10⁸

This total more accurately represents the site long-term, over 182 days of the academic year, every year. ESS is the only Steiner Waldorf school in Scotland, founded over 80 years ago, and its roll is increasing to a maximum of 380 pupils.

 

  • 26th – Surveyor confirms carriageway as 9m. The site exceeds the threshold for a non-signalised improvement such as pavement build outs, a pedestrian refuge island or a zebra crossing, with a PV2 value of 0.338.
  • It is accepted by Road Safety the absence of a CPG may have skewed the results, which recorded only 21% of the pupils who attended school that day as crossing at the site. A re-assessment offered, once a CPG is in place. An FOI request shows the number of SCPs employed by the council has fallen by over a fifth since 2013.
  • 3 of the 4 values (rows 38 – 41) used to calculate the unmodified PV2 value are based on data showing 57 pupils (rows 30 – 31) arrived at school between 7am – 9am. This is grossly inaccurate. 275 pupils are recorded as attending; ten absent. These are not theoretical numbers. ESS is legally required to record this data for Education Scotland.
  • ESS request figure of 475 pedestrians is used instead. This would yield a modified PV2 value of 1.21, exceeding the minimum threshold for a signal-controlled crossing. ESS written statement submitted to Transport for circulation to all members of TEC members.
  • 27th – ESS present deputation at Transport and Environment Committee meeting. Members voted for a detailed report on the issues raised in the petition to be produced, which will be made available to parents.

Next steps:

February

  • 2nd – School will meet Andrew Easson, Road Safety & Active Travel Manager and Stacey Monteith-Skelton, School Safety Team Leader, to discuss a crossing at 60 Spylaw Road following the 0.338 PV2 value of the site.

 

 

Help spread the word through our social media campaign on Facebook 

 

News:

Non EH Postcoders Disgruntled At Petition Ban (December 19th, 2021)

Edinburgh Steiner School urgently needs a new lollipop person (November 19th, 2021)