'Lollipops' forced off the road

8:43am Thursday 20th September 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Cadisha Brown

SPEEDING drivers have forced two school lollipop patrols off a busy road in Kidderminster, leaving children’s lives in “danger”.

Dangerous manoeuvres by drivers such as exceeding the 40mph speed limit and driving illegally in a hatched lane, in Birmingham Road, has led to several near misses for the workers, forcing Worcestershire County Council to remove them on Tuesday.

Stunned parents and staff at Offmore Primary School, however, claim they were left in the dark by the authority’s shock decision and only informed 30 minutes before the end of the school day.

The first parents knew about it was when they received a hasty text from headteacher Kate Beer, who said she was not told until about 2.45pm, despite the patrol staff being at the site in the morning.

Mrs Beer said: “We texted the parents within minutes of us receiving the notification ourselves. I think it’s unfair that the children’s safety was put in jeopardy.”

Concerns have now been raised for the safety of pupils, as some of them will be left to dodge traffic on the busy dual carriageway by themselves.

A spokesman for the county council, however, said police were on site yesterday morning and placed temporary signs in the area, warning people to slow down.

Chris Kimber, whose children Daniel, 10 and Matthew, 8, attend Offmore said it was a “terribly dangerous situation”.

“We have got children trying to cross this really dangerous road completely by themselves,” she said.

“I was shocked when I got the text.

Surely the solution isn’t to take away the crossing patrol and leave the children to cross by themselves?”

County councillors for the area Fran Oborksi and Mumshad Ahmed also claimed they were kept in the dark about the authority’s decision.

Liberal Mrs Oborski said: “It’s appalling.Obviously the county council has a duty of care of health and safety of its staff but they gave the school almost no notice at all.”

Labour’s Mr Ahmed added: “I’m really angry because I did not get consulted on the matter and the parents were not consulted. They have put children’s lives in danger.”

The county council spokesman said the authority was in discussions with the police to provide a uniformed presence on site as a shortterm solution, that might lead to the school crossing patrol being reinstated, adding it was also looking into coning off the hatched lane temporarily.

"Our highways engineers are working on this issue as a matter of urgency and are hoping to install a physical ‘build-out’ barrier as soon as possible to permanently stop drivers illegally travelling in the hatched lane,” he said.

“We are keeping the school fully informed of developments in order that they may update parents.”

Comments(19)

stour67 says...
9:17am Thu 20 Sep 12

Do what they do in spain and get the police to do it or the community officers that then shows the police and officers in a pro active good light also shows to the children they are not just there to arrest you but look after you when in danger.Shame that will never happen though.

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walkerno5 says...
9:55am Thu 20 Sep 12

Ah, there'd soon be plenty of complaints about the police, "shouldn't you be catching burglars" etc.

There are lots of right idiots on the Birmingham Road who go into the hatching as a matter of course. These people should be banned. I am somewhat concerned though that the erection of physical barriers creates a problem later on.

There are also even more idiots who don't know how to use the turning spaces, but these are more annoying rather than dangerous.

Rather than a physical barrier couldn't we just have had the hatching of half of each lane to force drivers into the cetre of the road rather than hatching a whole lane which can then be used by aforementioned idiots as a private, idiots only overtaking lane.

Anyone reading this who uses the hatched carriageway to overtake, please hand your driving licence in at a post office and never leave your house again.

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FlipC - The Mad Ranter says...
11:06am Thu 20 Sep 12

Hatched lanes shouldn't be entered unless "necessary" and "safe"; unless they're bordered by unbroken white lines in which case entering should only be in an "emergency".

If you want to stop them entirely fill in the gaps, otherwise what they're doing may well be perfectly legal.

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Driving Instructor says...
11:31am Thu 20 Sep 12

I'm going to thro this into total confusion, when I saw the County Highways performing this alteration 2 years ago, and the stupid junction at Husum Way I asked the ''Engineer'' who dreampt this c@ckup up, it was never planned or thought out, then they decided to mark the hatchings,,for no reason, and actualy the Lollypops 'bless em' had very little trouble, all because some drivers cant drive properly,this has made matters worse,,

Now on another subject but closely linked we used to run the School bus service to Offmore,this was withdrawn by the County , because of '' cutbacks'' now its more **** dangerous than before and Mrs Oborski and Ahmad should hold there heads in shame as they never lifted a fingure to help keep that service., now there trying to cash in on this problem, its there fault it happened

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emjaypee says...
11:43am Thu 20 Sep 12

The real blame here lies with the impatient idiots that are crossing the hatching just to save themselves 30 or so seconds of hold up whilst vulnerable children cross a busy road in safety. Close the hatched areas now, this can be done almost immediately by use of temporary circular concrete modules which are fixed together and too heavy to lift. Highways can do this in a matter of days until a better solution is acheived.

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Cynical Sid says...
11:50am Thu 20 Sep 12

@stour67 ...getting the Police to become Lollipop wins the most stupidest post award 2012, 2011 and 2010. Keep up the good work chump.

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FranOb says...
11:57am Thu 20 Sep 12

To Driving Instructor. I fought to get the bus service saved BUT there were very serious concerns about the operator and, unfortunately, no other operator came forward which is why we couldn't save it!

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Driving Instructor says...
12:04pm Thu 20 Sep 12

That is total nonsense Mrs Oborski and you know it, you name the concerns about the operator then, you never lifted a fingure to keep it as far as I'm concerned
the operator is well respected by all concerned,
it was never put out to contract, because of the budget cuts, I suggest you go back into county records and do your homework

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walkerno5 says...
12:56pm Thu 20 Sep 12

@Flip, the behaviours exhibited on the Birmingham Road by drivers entering the hatching in this case are neither necessary, safe, or emergency manoeuvres.

The worst bit (or the bit I see most often) is drivers at the start of the hatching overtaking cars that are slowing down to turn left into the residential streets - which wouldn't normally cause an issue except for the fact that the boxes to turn from the town-bound carriagewayextend out to the edge of the hatched area - so it's quite likely that at some point one of these impatient little turds will smash into the side of someone turning across in their rush to save up to 0.35 seconds of their time.

I have personally been into the hatching once - because it was necessary to get past a parked lorry (which parking was either illegal or an emergency). So i'm grand, but that I knew.

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FlipC - The Mad Ranter says...
2:31pm Thu 20 Sep 12

@walkerno5- I agree; I'm just differentiating between 'they're using the hatched lanes which is illegal' and 'they're using the hatched lanes unnecessarily, which is illegal'. Far too easy for someone to come away from this thinking they should never be used.

@emjaypee - No need for concrete blocks simply connect the border lines and it becomes an offence to enter them except in an emergency. Of course how many people know that is another matter, but a few convictions should set matters straight.

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stour67 says...
4:40pm Thu 20 Sep 12

Sid, they don't have parking problems out side schools in Spain like they do over here causing traffic problems ie blocking roads with parking , like wilden lane, bewdley high school,windermere way stourport,i could go on.Try driving past them at opening and kicking out time.

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emjaypee says...
8:21pm Thu 20 Sep 12

You could be right FlipC but connected lines or not it still needs enforcement by a police officer who will have to be on site at the right time. Permanent structures police themselves, do not need a change in traffic order and are quick & cheap to install.

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Cynical Sid says...
9:12pm Thu 20 Sep 12

@stour67 - I don’t think people give a stuff about school parking problems in Spain. You have shifted your argument to parking problems (from a bone idle lazy parent) ...to Police Officers becoming lollipop ladies.

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DOEPUBLIC says...
3:19am Fri 21 Sep 12

Road markings have no relevance to the safety of a lollipop person. Clearly, if the lollipop person feels they are @ risk they can withdraw their labour. If they do, the appropriate authorities have a duty of care to fulfill. Clearly in this case such contingencies are not in place. Raising the question as to whether it is common knowledge that unsafe routes to school exist in our communities. A cctv camera in a lollipop person's helmet, is a method to catch offenders used in some parts of the country.

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Mr.Fie says...
11:51am Fri 21 Sep 12

I think the above comment regarding a body / hat camera is a good suggestion but whoever suggested putting concrete blocks in wants their head examining. This council is ruining enough roads as it is. I dont condone the reckless manouvers of such motorists but the Birmingham Road used to flow and be a pleasure to drive down. I can see the benefit of some of the 'safety improvements' but to add more 'street furniture' would be a backwards step, creating obstacles to crash into and obstructing emergency vehicles. How about the Police pull their finger out and do some more road Policing that way around School times.

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FranOb says...
11:29pm Fri 21 Sep 12

Sorry Driving Instructor but I have still got the letters of complaint about school bus operator. County then refused to subsidise bus route and no other operator willing. That is fact!

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DOEPUBLIC says...
5:35pm Sat 22 Sep 12

Interesting. I wonder whether bus operators are slow at coming forward when school trips are on the agenda?

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Shibdrift says...
12:38pm Tue 25 Sep 12

Yet another display of how bad driving skills/quality have got recently! And before you shout "youngsters", it isn't.
I have been driving since the 70's, and quality of driving is now much worse than then, generally with older drivers! Whilst driving within 30 mph limits I have been overtaken more than once by muppets with less sense than the vehicles they are driving (lady in black BMW in Blakedown take note!!). Try driving in and around Offmore, they're all out there!!!
As for this particular issue, until the halfwits who design the roads actually get out there, use them and see what is going on, then things will just continue to get worse. But I guess that is how councils work - just do what we say cuz we know best! We all know what they really know - ****** all!!!!!

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neilhar says...
7:03pm Wed 26 Sep 12

Speeding drivers havent forced the lollipops off the road.

Come on folks, it's another cost saving excercise. If safety of lollipop people is the concern causing their removal, then it must follow that it's clearly ok to leave children to run the risk of being mowed down by the very same speeding drivers.

Better signage and some police prosecutions should do it or, heaven forbid, install a crossing. But they cost money, just like lollipop people.

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