On Tuesday 11th November my son, a pupil at Walton Priory Middle School was knocked down by a bus when he was trying to cross Tilling Drive on his way home. The area is very congested at the end of the school day with parked and moving vehicles (cars, school coaches, public buses) and pedestrians. Parents feel this was an ‘accident waiting to happen’ as there is no safe space to cross. Parked vehicles (especially coaches and buses) force pupils and parents to walk into the road to see whether it is safe to cross as it’s not possible to do this on the pavement. Furthermore it is not as ‘simple’ as looking two ways as there is the allotment parking which has two entrances/exits which is used by parents as well as the road to the estate, this adds to the difficulty of crossing and makes it high risk in terms of safety. There is a crossing patrol warden outside Pirehill First School but this is not helpful for Walton pupils who need to cross further up to gain access to the footpath which takes them to the estates on the other side of the A34. In addition crossing this far down would mean two further streets to unnecessarily cross as they made their way back to the path.
I am requesting action by the council to implement road safety measures to create a safe place to cross as a matter of urgency before a child is seriously injured. This could be a Crossing Patrol Warden, Pedestrian crossings, parking restrictions when the area is most congested etc or a combination. It would useful if a council employee could visit the area at the end of the school day when it is at is most congested to fully assess the risk.
Started by: Rochelle Edwards
This ePetition ran from 15/11/2019 to 03/12/2019 and has now finished.
232 people signed this ePetition.
I refer to the petition, signed by local residents regarding the request to improve the road safety of Tilling Drive for pupils and parents of Walton Priory Middle School. I can advise you that receipt of the petition will be reported to Cllr Helen Fisher, Cabinet Member for Highways & Transport.
Please allow me to first apologise for the time taken to provide you with a response to your E-Petition. I am sorry to hear about the incident that occurred on November 11 at Tilling Drive.
Staffordshire County Council takes road safety extremely seriously and as such we welcome communication from local residents offering suggestions to improve areas that are of particular concern to them.
All road safety improvements across the county are supported
through the collation of objectively measured data which is
challenged and rationalised. This approach has led Staffordshire to
have one of the safest county council road networks in the
country.
The incident you refer to in your petition on November 11th 2019
relates to an isolated incident on this road that has not been
reported to our Accident Investigation Team.
If someone is injured in a road traffic accident on a public road and it has been reported to or recorded by the police, then the Council receives the collision data. The Council constantly monitors personal injury collisions reported on the public highway across Staffordshire to identify accident trends and to ensure it fulfils its statutory obligations.
Any treatable pattern of accidents identified will have proportionate remedial measures put forward for funding and prioritised against other locations around Staffordshire. The key is based on a pattern rather than the severity of collision, although if there is a pattern of severe collisions then this takes greater priority.
I note you have mentioned there are a lot of parked cars during school times. The presence of parked vehicles often has a traffic calming effect and can in some cases reduce the speed of vehicles but there may be occasions where vehicles can travel at inappropriate speeds rather than excessive speeds. There is a section of Tilling Drive that is a No Through Road. This would present a safe place to cross as vehicles travelling towards Walton Priory Middle School are unable to use this road.
I understand that Walton Priory Middle School is one of the schools on the priority list for our Road Safety Education Officers which means they have specific road safety presentations delivered depending on the year group. This academic year this presentation was delivered on Tuesday 10th Dec 2019.
Should you require further information regarding your petition
please contact myself.
Yours sincerely
Tom Underwood