Parents protest after near-misses outside school

Parents staged a protest outside a school warning that dangerous parking and aggressive driving are putting children at risk.

Families at Windmill Primary School in Headington, Oxford, gathered earlier to highlight concerns about vehicles mounting pavements, blocking crossings and carrying out unsafe manoeuvres near the school street restriction.

Laura Swift, who has two children at the school, said she did not want to wait for an accident for the issue to be taken more seriously.

Oxfordshire County Council said school streets helped reduce traffic around school gates and that it would continue working with the school to address issues.

Swift, who described pick-up and drop-off times as "running the gauntlet", said she reached a turning point a couple of weeks ago.

She was crossing the road with her youngest child and had to drag her back to safety when a car, which had not been visible due to a parked vehicle, came down the road.

"Several people at the PTA said they had seen or experienced near-misses," she said.

"I just don't want to wait until it's pushed up the agenda because something terrible has happened."

The road outside the school was made a "school street" in 2022, a measure that sees drivers fined for passing through during drop-off and pick-up times.

But parents said the scheme exacerbated the problems, prompting some drivers to park on a corner with poor visibility to avoid getting caught out by the camera.

Becky Carlyle, who has a son in year one, said: "People drive right up to the boundary and then park on the pavement or do dangerous three-point turns where hundreds of children are trying to cross.

"It just makes it so much more dangerous to try and cross the road and teach your child how to do that safely."

Some of the issues have led to confrontations between parents, or parents and other drivers.

Swift said: "Occasionally drivers are aggressive or act like they don't see what the problem is."

Head teacher Lynn Knapp said parking had long been an issue around the site.

"You see this elsewhere where an accident happens and something changes – but we want to be proactive in ensuring there are no accidents," she said.

Figures released following a Freedom of Information request showed more than 8,000 fines have been issued for driving through Windmill's school street restriction since 2023, the highest number recorded at any school in Oxfordshire.

Councillor Andrew Gant, cabinet member for transport management, said the school streets scheme had generally been very successful.

He added: "The county council monitors all the school street sites and will be working with the school to address issues where a small number are failing to prioritise the safety of local children around the school gate."

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