Move to get cars off busy road outside school
Wednesday 30th December 2009, 2:59PM GMT.
The road that runs outside First Tower School already has speed humps, but Deputy Andrew Green wants to stop through-traffic
PROPOSALS to close town’s busiest by-road just in front of First Tower School to through-traffic go to a Parish Assembly tonight.
St Helier No 3 Deputy Andrew Green is taking a proposal to the meeting at the Town Hall to make the lower end of Tower Road available for access to premises only.
He says that 3,000 cars go down the road every day and that action is needed to protect the young children that go to the school.
But the Transport Department and the St Helier roads committee are opposing the move, which they say would cause a large amount of traffic disruption. They also argue that the road is already one-way, and that traffic calming measures are already in place.
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“He says that 3,000 cars go down the road every day and that action is needed to protect the young children that go to the school.”
I have to ask, just how many children have been hurt or injured by these cars? What is the average speed of cars on this road.
Will the aggravation coursed by having to go the the long way round prompt motorists to drive faster and increase the chance of an accident. I would think so.
This seems like another good idea for ideas sakes.
I take it the main road used by the thundering lorries going to Bellozanne on the other side is absolutely fine then?
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How is mummy going to manage if she can’t park directly outside of the school, will her little darlings have to walk a few feet?
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The nimbys are at it again. Is there no tolerance in this Island. Very soon everywhere will be closed to traffic and the island will grind to a stop. Surely common sense in terms of very young children being accompainied by an adult would solve this issue?
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Andrew Green clearly has too much spare time to bother about this small road. From my knowlege there has been no accidents on this road caused by through traffic at the start and end of the school day. Since the speed bumps went in there is no speeding and there is a crossing guard to help the kids cross the road from the carpark opposite at the start and end of the day. This area has been developed to make it safe and ideal for a school and for motorists and i feel that the people who designed the layout did a good job. there are a lot of other roads in the parish that need changing so why waste peoples time with one that is perfect as it is.
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nice photo of a chelsea tractor parked on the pavement.
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I knew it ! i’ve always known that States members did not live in the real world, confirmation received!!!
Have you ever looked at this road when school is closed or is that outside your remit?
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“He says that 3,000 cars go down the road every day. Yet another sign of OVER POPULATION. Sort that out first.
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#5 David – I wonder how many 4×4 tractors Jersey has? I would love to see the States bring in taxation purely for these grotesque pieces of machinery. Charge every owner £500 per year for having a 4×4, that would soon get rid of a few
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andrew green is right, glad i voted for him. why should we wait for a youngster to get knocked over on this rat run road before we have to have action. maybe for once the almighty motorist has to take second place.
i agree with someone(1) that the traffic coming and going to the bellozane dump is reckless, and perhaps this should be tackled as a matter of urgency.
the vast majority of parents at first tower school act with great responsibility, and when they do drop their children off, they park at the car park across the road – not in front of the school. first tower school also does an excellent job at highlighting the traffic dangers around this area, and always put the safety of the pupils and parents at the for.
it’s a shame and pretty dismal that mulvie le phew, tree hugger, and danny can’t muster a basic level of empathy for other people’s well being.
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#1 Well said
Looks to me like there are pavements there also. Maybe if the kids learned to cross the road and walk sensibly and attentively along the pavement (like everyone should on every road) then there would be no concern.
Seems to me we are just wrapping kids in more and more cotton wool instead of teaching them proper life skills.
What will they do when the older generations are gone? We’re raising a generation that will be completely incapable of using common sense and looking out for themselves.
Way to go!
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As the entire Suburu range of vehicals are 4×4 will you be including them in your £500 pound a year tax?
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horay for mr green (kind of apt)
have these people got no legs?
given that schools are dotted around the island in catchment areas, who has to go much more than a mile to get their little munchkin to school?
and for those old enough to work out how to use a bus?
not only is school run traffic a hazard, it is polluting, wasteful and lazy. spare a thought for those who live in the area.
as the apache (i think) say (roughtly) ‘only when you have felled the last tree, eaten the last fish and poisoned the last river, will you realise that you cannot eat money.
anyone heard of global warming?
(and if anyone cares, i have twins, and i bicycle them to school – then off to my full time job)
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I think the road should be closed to anyone but residents.Anyone whose child goes to school there should go in the car park by the long route ie an extra minute.Another few minutes to park and see the children to the crossing will see them safely to school.I have seen many near misses over the years because of parents pulling up on the pavements and letting them cross by themselves.It is the parents who need educating!
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Bruce, There is a big difference between emmpathy and the nimby approach which is so prevelant in Jersey and usually backed up with the type of emotional blackmail which blindly sites some unseen and unquantifiably danger to children, cats,dogs and parrots etc. My point is that there is no more danger here than anywhere else where children can be found. Futhermore there are substantial traffic calming measures on this road making it safer than normal. If your line is adopted then we would probably close most if not all the roads in the island because of the potential danger to children. A responsible attitude by parents backed up by common sense would seem a better approach rather than the usual knee jerk reaction of “children might be in danger so lets close it, stop it or ban it”!!
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I love the fact that we accept Mr Green’s data without asking for any facts?
I presume that Mr Green standing with his clipboard did not count the vehicles dropping children off to school, otherwise that would be a bit of a statistic bender surely!?
I also wonder how exactly you can ‘protect the young children that go to school’ further than allowing them to be dropped at the door?(Perhaps overpasses should be fitted on all roads leading to and from educational establishments?)
When was the last injury/fatality in this or other school area duing rush hour? I think you will find most cars moving at a crawling pace!
#7 FUBAR ~ I can suggest one less populas, unless you can give me any reason why you should stay while others leave to free up ‘your’ island?!
Any one on an anti 4×4 rant consider this:
The following selection of vehicles all have worse mpg than a Land Rover Discovery TD5- what I would consider a large 4×4.
BMW Z4 3.0i SE
Audi A4 1.8T Quattro
Chrysler Grand Voyager 2.8 crd
Porshe Boxter 2.7
Ford Mondeo 3.0 Ghia X
Jaguar XJ8 4.2 SE
Subaru Impreza 2.0 WRX Sti
Lexus GS300 Se Auto 4dr
and size wise the following vehicles are all much larger than a Landrover Freelander
Chrysler Grand Voyager 2.8 crd
Jaguar XJ8 4.2 SE Auto
Lexus GS300 Se Auto 4dr
Saab 9-52.0T Vector
Rover 75 1.8T connoiseur
Volvo V70 2.4S Estate
Renault Espace2.2dci Priviledge
Ford Galaxy 1.9 Tdi LX
Audi A4 1.8T Quattro
So before speaking out against 4x4s consider, what do you drive? I used to run a 330i BMW which barely fitted in my driveway, now I run Land Rover Defender (admitedly the short version) but still what I consider a big 5 seater 4×4 and I have a massive amount of spare room in my drive now, in fact over half a meter more and the Defender gets better fuel economy round Jersey!
I’ll also point out that even a Range Rover Sport is only 1 hand print larger than a 3 series BMW – 20 something centimeters!
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No 12- a lot of children in Jersey can’t attened their catchment school, sometimes because it is full or sometimes if you move your local school has no places. I once lived in St Martins and my children were still at Janvrin school in town.
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The children have pavements on both sides of this road, they have a pedestrian crossing just a few metres away from the car park and adjacent housing and they have two crossing guards so those too lazy to walk to the crossing can better disrupt the traffic flow.
The vast majority of the traffic down the lower end of Tower Road comes from the upper end of Tower Road, if you close this route it’ll either have to go right and drive past 3or4 housing estates and other residential areas, or turn left Ro drive down Bellozanne Avenue, again residential, and with very narrow sidewalks; and turning left at that junction means an awful lot of cars mounting the narrow sidewalk. I’d put money on this being more likely to cause an accident than the present route.
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Children should be taught how to cross a road safely and with this particular road being one way, it makes an ideal training location. If teh road were closed to through traffic, the occasional moving vehicle along such a restricted road would probably be more of a danger.
As is always the case these days, there are over exagerated fears of what might happen when the reality is that I cannot remember the last fatality involving a pupil directly outside of his/her school.
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#15 Thanks for doing the data searching, I couldn’t be bothered. Still it’s quite clear driving around Jersey that there are everyday cars that are wider and longer than what I drive. Does anyone have good reason for being against tall vehicles because these ’4×4′ rants must really be about vehicle height?
Since I normally have my Landrover in 2-wheel drive will my vehicle be excluded from the witch hunt? Of course, the other week I did have to put it in 4WD and do my good deed for the day by pulling a transit van out of the mud it was stuck in.
#16 Alexa, you make a good point. The States really do need to allow this for those that must but put on a good school bus service for the rest and make it mandatory. I can’t even think of a child that was driven to school when I was a child, it was walk or school bus, and that was just that.
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my comment was not a attack on 4x4s, it could of been any one parked on the pavement.
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@ haricotfou #12
While I agree that there’s no reason many children should be driven ti school as they are now, I don’t think that’s really the issue here.
The majority of traffic on this stretch of road is not school traffic, but rhrough taffic.
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#16 Alexa – granted.
but you are not adding much to the discussion. also, a car is not the first and last answer. st martins is on a pretty good bus route.
and mr roaduser… fuel consumption statistics state exactly that -fuel consumption.
if we want air worth breathing, an environment thats safe and pleasant, and a planet left for our grandchildren, then alternatives to burning fossil fuel must be adopted.
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If those kids attending school in the parish where they live walked as we used to there would be much less of an issue, of course their mum’s would have to find another way to show off their cars to their peers.
I struggle to understand how so many kids need transport to school in such a small island, especially when the vast majority of islanders live in or near town and the majority of schools are near town. I used to walk a couple of miles a day to school and back, didn’t take long and I would talk to other kids along the way.
Of course this would risk something happening to the kids along the way, the statistics on this are frightening with a Jersey child being attacked – erm never!
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When I was a boy very few were brought to school by car.
Those who did included the entire “Evening Post” extended family, a family from out west who would by today’s standards be seen as green because they bussed other peoples sons as well as their own in their utility van and a lucky one whose parents had an Aston Martin and time on their hands. One family with world class aristocratic connections only had a Hillman Husky.
The problem for the rest of us, Fat Bob, was that, whether we cycled or walked, we got soaked when it rained. I would not wish that experience on any of today’s softies.
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One year in office,Deputy Green, and you have finally managed to cause a whimper of disaproval. Shame a shout of approval is not being heard on the more important, island wise issues facing Jersey.
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@R B Bogourd #24
“…it rained. I would not wish that experience on an of today’s softies…”
Here’s an idea; have them wear a coat.
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To Fat Bob (comment 23)-does it not occur to you that mothers drop their children at school and then travel on to work?You seem to think that all mothers simply enjoy the hassle of this daily drag in order to show off their cars before returning home to put their feet up for the day- I think not.
Schools and the traffic/parking problems which they create will always be a problem as you will always get some idiots who block roads/pavements etc etc.Even where I now live in a small village you get some parents having to park on top of the school instead of taking a very short walk from the designated parking areas.
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#20 David, point noted
#27 You do speak the truth, there are those who have genuine need, and they will always suffer a backlash due to those that don’t. This is the same in all aspects of life I guess. I do believe it is up to the States to find a proper solution in this instance, parents can only do so much.
If the States want us out of their cars they need to give us options. I can’t walk enough at the moment to get to my workplace by foot or public transport, a workplace that I need to change in the near future, how am I supposed to get to a new place of work without a car?
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“To Fat Bob (comment 23)-does it not occur to you that mothers drop their children at school and then travel on to work?You seem to think that all mothers simply enjoy the hassle of this daily drag in order to show off their cars before returning home to put their feet up for the day- I think not.”
Far from it, they have to rush back to instruct the cleaner for the day before spending 2 hours getting ready for lunch with the girls. Then they have to be back at school for afternoon collection, ideally parked illegally along the road restricting access for other road users( I would be ticketed for this but not our mum’s ) Why on earth can’t the schools arrange travel for children, it’s such a chore to collect them.
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This is the same Deputy Green who demands that Cyclist without helmets and whatever other protective clothing he feel is essential should be thrown in jail for their own protection..
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Thanks Fat Bob for giving me a laugh or should I feel miffed that when my children were at school I wasn’t leading a life like the mothers you know!!You must move in very affluent circles!I had to drop my children off in my temperamental old car (not a 4X4 I’m afraid)before going to work and remaining there all day.Sadly I had no cleaner either(and neither did anyone else I knew come to think of it) and so I had those chores to look forward to at the weekend.I fully agree with you however in that mothers,fathers or whoever parks illegaly under any circumstances should be booked.
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I’d agree to having that road closed in an instant if Deputy Green could convince me that children are at risk. Even if it makes my life more difficult, I’d put up with it.
But I don’t believe it.
I live at the bottom of that road and I use the road several times a day, especially when the schools are turning out – it is a very busy road.
There’s often a queue of cars coming down that road so traffic is edging along slowly because of the volume, especially in the afternoons, plus there are huge sleeping policeman all down the road which make it impossible to drive down the road at more than a crawl at any time, and on top of that, there are lollipop ladies which marshall the kids about safely around school times.
So yes it is busy, but the measures in place force everyone to drive carefully all of the time don’t they?
Why do they think people’s driving is putting the kids at risk?
The volume of traffic actually makes people drive slower and if they force all the cars along La Route es Nouaux instead, there’ll be the same volume of traffic moving past the school but on a bigger road where there are no sleeping policeman so people will still be driving past the school, only more quickly!
Surely the same risks exist near many or most of the islands primary schools?
This proposal makes no sense to me?
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