Parking and congestion issues outside schools
Inconsiderate or inappropriate parking and traffic congestion at school travel time can be an issue outside many schools.
There is not one magic solution to fix this. It will require a range of measures applied regularly throughout the school year and commitment from the school and wider school community.
Where not to park
- Near the school entrance.
- On the SCHOOL KEEP CLEAR yellow zigzag lines.
- On single yellow lines when a restriction is in place.
- On double yellow lines.
- Where it will affect visibility or make it difficult for others to walk or cross the road.
What we do
We can offer advice and help schools set up many free projects to encourage children to walk and cycle. This can reduce the number of children driven to school.
- Bikeability cycle training
- Safe cycling
- School Streets – traffic-free roads
- Walking Bus
- Volunteer School Crossing Marshals and School Crossing Patrols
- Cycle maps and routes to encourage cycling and walking.
- Devon County Council’s Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) enforce on-street parking restrictions.
- School Travel Plan
- Road Safety Toolkit contains films, animations and images to use in communication to parents.
- Safe travel advice.
What the school and wider school community can do
School Travel Plan
- A School Travel Plan is the first step.
- It is an opportunity to formally record what measures the school are taking to discourage parents driving children to school and parking near the school.
- The plan should tackle the issue of inconsiderate parking and congestion outside the school.
Enforcement
- Report a parking problem
- Try and establish a working relationship with Devon County Council’s Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) team and also the local Police officer.
- Dangerous or inconsiderate parking that is causing an obstruction should be reported to the Police.
Education
- Fewer parents driving and less cars near the school gates can go a long way to reducing the issue.
- Tell parents that do drive to park considerately and away from the school.
- Parents that drive and wait for their children MUST NOT leave their vehicle engine ‘idling’. See Highway Code Rule 123.
- School staff positioned outside the school to verbally discourage inappropriate parking and to welcome pupils and parents.
- Purchase no parking/stopping banners and fix to school railings/fence.
- Deliver lessons in school to promote and encourage sustainable travel. Lesson plans are available on the government websites THINK! and Bikeability.
- Sustainable Travel Days rewards and incentives for children who walk, cycle, scoot or catch public transport. See Living Streets ‘Walk to School’
Help parents and children with their school journeys
- Provide information to encourage children cycling to school, for example, details of the cycle parking at the school or create videos of popular routes.
- Maps identifying cycling and walking routes, footpaths or cut-throughs, shared paths and quiet streets.
- Park and Stride – encouraging parents to park away from the school environment and walk the extra distance.
Let us know what works at your school!