Tackling traffic woes

Parents bidding to fight ‘inconsiderate parking’

PARENTS of children at a Dundee primary school have banded together to tackle ongoing parking and traffic issues.

Members of the Craigiebarns Parent Partnership met this week to discuss ways to fight “inconsiderate parking” at Craigiebarns Primary School.

Joanne Drapajlo and Jane McIntosh said several measures had been implemented in the last few months, including the painting of yellow lines at a controversial junction last year.

But with problems still persisting, a decision was made to create a focus group.

Joanne, mum to a P3 pupil at the school, said the main issue was on Craigie Drive, where she believed a school crossing patrol officer was needed.

She added: “There’s a pedestrian crossing point about 500 metres up the road and that’s why we’ve been told a lollipop man isn’t needed — but that’s too far away. Children are crossing the road here and it’s dangerous. One of the priorities of this new group will be working to have a school crossing patroller reinstated.

“I think a lot of parents would happily park farther away and walk — if it were safe to do so.

“There’s just too much congestion if everyone comes to the gates with cars.”

Jane, a mum of two pupils at Craigiebarns, said: “We only just started with some ideas this week, such as a points system for the children to encourage them to walk.

“We also want to have a poster campaign to raise awareness about the issues and tackle the poor parking.

“Our initial idea was to focus on the pupils, where we’d teach them about road safety.

“We’re trying to encourage the children to guilt their parents into more responsible driving and parking.

“We want to make the parents doing it feel guilty — they aren’t exempt from the rules.

“I was so happy with the yellow lines and I was convinced they would deter people but they haven’t.”