Menlo school gives lesson in traffic control

A city school has adopted a three-pronged approach in dealing with increased traffic volumes during school pick-up and drop-off times.

When Scoil Bhríde in Menlo opened in its new state-of-the art eight-room building in September 2014, it attracted more pupils from adjoining suburbs to one of the last remaining intact heritage villages on the curtilage of Galway City.

But with them came an increase in traffic volumes as well as concerns about child safety.

So a working group was set up made up of parents, residents, teachers and school board members to look at ways in which the school community could promote good school traffic flow while keeping the students safe.

“Every school in Galway has issues with school traffic; there are not enough parking spaces or pull-in zones which leads to congested roads at drop-off and pickup times,” explained parent Karen McGuire

“We wanted to be creative in addressing school traffic flow and to encourage road users to think about the child; and to see the message from the child’s perspective.”

They came up with the idea of creating cartoon child figures to encourage parents not to park dangerously or reverse in the drop-off zone.

A local artist and parent Catherine Creaven designed kid-sized characters which were printed on corriboard and cut out to form 3ft high signs sitting on traffic cones.

The child figures hold different signs saying: Go Mall, Stop! Paístí Crossing, Set Down Only and No Reversing and these are placed in key areas in front of the school.

“The figures are really colourful and eye-catching and have really helped to bring awareness to child road safety,” says Karen.

A Traffic Code of Conduct was also developed which contains guidelines for parents to follow along with a map of where it is safe and appropriate to park.  Each family were asked to sign the code, indicating their intention to follow the guidelines.

“This has definitely led to a positive change in traffic flow. People are more aware of the whole issue of road safety. We have installed orange traffic poles to mark off our zebra crossing and to keep the area clear of cars at pick-up times,” explained Karen.

This year for the first time a school bus has been organised, which has also succeeded in taking up to 20 cars off the school run. The bus travels from Ballinfoile down to Bothar an Chóiste up to Ballindooley Cross before arriving at Menlo.

The introduction of a ‘before and after’ school service has also staggered the times that parents arrive to bring home their charges.

School Principal Máire De Brún said it was vital the school continues to be proactive in promoting road safety.

“When you hear about that 11-year-old boy in Offaly getting knocked down on his bike while travelling to school, it really hits home what a massive issue road safety is for school children. If we can do anything to take more cars off the road and make the roads around the school safe, we will pursue it.”