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09
Feb 2023
Accident reignites calls for safe routes to Harrogate schools
A campaign to make travel to school safer in Harrogate has been reignited by a collision that left two teenagers in hospital.
The boys, both aged 15 and students at Rossett School, suffered serious injuries requiring multiple operations since the collision last Thursday morning.
A group of parents had already been asking for 20mph zones and safe crossing points around routes to school on Harlow Hill and now say the work is urgently needed before anyone else is hurt.
Dr Jenny Marks has spearheaded the campaign with fellow Harlow Hill resident Ruth Lily. They have spent more than two years putting together evidence and consulting with local people about potential changes to the roads around the area.
Their petition to create a 'safe streets zone' has more than 750 signatures.
Dr Marks said:
The pair have also joined forces with Oatlands residents Hazel Peacock and Vicki Evans, who have been working to get measures introduced around schools in their area too.
There are plans to set up schemes to reduce the volume of traffic around the infant and junior schools, including 'park and stride' using existing car parks in the area.
Oatlands Infant School. Photograph: Geograph, Derek Harper
All of the parents pointed out that, while primary school pupils often walk a short distance to school, they can be travelling much further when it comes to secondary education.
It is more common for secondary age children to walk to school alone, they said, so it was important for them to have acquired road safety skills from a younger age.
For that reason, they are pushing for a strategic approach across the whole area with coordinated measures in place – which, they also argued, would be more likely to be adhered to by motorists than a short stretch of 20mph zone that was never enforced, such as that on Pannal Ash Road.
Read more:
- Fundraising appeals set up for Rossett students injured in Harrogate crash
- Plan submitted for 20mph zones around five schools in Harrogate
The campaigners said they were frustrated by the lack of action on the issue since they began calling for change more than two years ago.
In November 2021, North Yorkshire County Council project engineer Paul Ryan wrote to Dr Marks to say the highways department was "considering a number of options and designs to implement traffic calming measures", subject to funding.
However, he added:
The group said even a perception that allowing children to walk to school was unsafe could lead many parents to drive, increasing the number of cars on the roads and making it more dangerous.
'Behaviour change'
The parents said measures to prioritise and protect pedestrians and cyclists, including reducing the speed limit to 20mph, would encourage more people to walk, reducing the number of cars and improving traffic flow.
They have been following evidence from the Living Streets campaign, which has also been cited by England's chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, as a way to reduce air pollution and improve health.
Ms Peacock said:
Writing to the group again last week, before the accident, Mr Ryan said there was an intention at NYCC to carry out further surveys into traffic, pedestrian and cycle movements and speeds in the area.
However, he said there was no timescale for this, and any future improvements would be subject to funding.
This week, NYCC’s executive member for highways and transportation, Cllr Keane Duncan, said:
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