Pupils of a Co Armagh primary have taken it upon themselves to lobby for a new 20mph speed limit after a car accident outside their school gates left them feeling “frightened” and “worried” for their own safety.
While fortunately there were no injuries in the incident at Birches Primary early in February, it prompted the children to launch a petition which they then delivered to ABC Council.
The petition was completed by the School Council and attracted 120 signatures from pupils and staff.
This week, having considered the letter at its statutory meeting for April, ABC Council agreed to take the matter up with the Department for Infrastructure on the pupils’ behalf.
After the collision on the Clonmakate Road, the School Council, in their correspondence to council, said “many pupils have told us they feel unsafe when arriving at or leaving school”.
Their letter to council added: “We are very thankful that no-one was walking through the gates at the exact moment of the accident. However, we understand that if it had happened even a few seconds earlier or later, someone could have been seriously hurt.
“This has frightened many children and we want to make sure an accident like this never happens again.
“Children use the area outside our school every day. Cars can come around the corner quickly and it is sometimes hard for drivers to see us because we are small. The new play park beside the school is also very busy, with lots of younger children, parents and grandparents using the footpath between the school and the road.
“This makes the area even more dangerous if cars are travelling too fast.
“As a School Council, our job is to share the views of all pupils in our school. After speaking to our classes, we agreed to create a petition asking for better road safety and nearly every child signed it. This shows how strongly we all feel about this issue and how important it is for us to feel safe at our own school.”
The children were requesting support for a 20mph part-time speed limit to be put in place, during school start and finish times, adding clearer signs around the entrance and the play park, and considering extra safety or traffic calming measures to slow vehicles down.
The letter added: “We want to feel safe walking into school every morning and leaving every afternoon. We hope that by writing this letter and sharing our petition you will understand how worried we are and how much this matters to us.”
ABC Council has agreed to back the pupils’ cause, with DUP Councillor Kyle Moutray thanking them for contacting council and praising them for their “proactive step”.
He said it was “lucky” nobody had been hurt in the accident outside school at the start of February but it “has left children and parents and staff members feeling very vulnerable”.
Added Councillor Moutray: “Can I propose, on the back of this letter, that we write to DfI as a council and ask them to seriously consider the actions that the school have requested. These include introducing a 20mph part-time speed limit, adding clear signage and considering any other additional traffic calming measures following this incident and taking account of speed on the road itself.”
Alliance Councillor Peter Lavery seconded the proposal and said he hoped DfI would “take heed”.
“Quite frankly, it should be all 20mph outside all the schools,” he stated, pointing to another incident where a child was knocked down recently outside a primary school in Portadown.
“The more safety measures which we can implement outside of schools, and the more vehicle drivers adhere to those additional road safety measures, the better, especially outside these rural primary schools,” added Councillor Lavery.
Sinn Fein Councillor Keith Haughian also agreed that council should support the pupils of Birches Primary in their quest.
“I think the rationale at the minute is due to funding, that it’s only applicable for schools that sit within the 60mph zone at present,” he said. “But I know that the Minister has recently had a consultation out for the public, which closed a number of days ago, so when we get some feedback from that, hopefully this will be picked up, because I think there’s broad agreement across the chamber that this is the kind of thing we should be involved in.”
