MAKING SCHOOL RUNS SAFER

I know that a lot of parents are concerned about dangerous parking outside schools in Sutton and I think that we need to come up with a deterrent to dangerous parking during the school run.

I have just been looking at a specially adapted SMART Car that NCP (the parking people) are using in some London boroughs to discourage dangerous parking. The car has a telescopic mast on the roof, attached to a CCTV camera and can be used to issue parking fines to illegally parked drivers.

I have asked NCP to loan the Council one of the cars for a couple of weeks to find out how effective they can be at discouraging dangerous parking. I think it is really important to get local support for an idea like this, so I’d like the car to issue warning letters rather than fines to people who park on the zig-zags outside schools, at least initially as a kind of amnesty.

It would be good to have an article in the local paper to explain that the car will be visiting schools and issuing warnings. The schools might also like to let parents know that the car will be around. I hope that this can help make the journey to and from school safer for our children.

I’d welcome your thoughts and comments on this idea.