INTRODUCTION

Dingwall Primary School has a roll of 548 making it the largest primary school
in the Highlands and Islands. Within such a large establishment the journey of
pupils and staff to and from school is of paramount importance and road safety has been an ongoing theme throughout the life of the school. 

In 1997 the Local Authority subsidised school bus services were withdrawn leaving
 no public transport available. This dramatically increased the number of pupils travelling by car thereby putting immense pressure on the limited school car parking spaces.

In 2000 a new housing development adjacent to the school gave the opportunity for improvements to the road into the school and car park. After pressure from the school and School Board conditions were imposed on the developer to
 

 

1.          widen the school access road allowing two-way traffic with                   parking spaces

2.          traffic calming speed humps on the access road

3.          increase in the size of the car park by 30 spaces

4.          erect a fence between the roadway and car park.

 

In 2001 the housing development was finished with each of the above improvements having been completed thus improving the journey by car to and from school. The
total number of parking spaces within the car park and adjacent to the access road was increased to 75. 

In the summer of 2001 the School Board obtained a donation from the main
contractor for the development and together with monies from the local Councillor’s discretionary budget, a total of sixty high visibility children’s waistcoats were purchased for use by classes when using footpaths outside the school grounds.
 

In 2003 a School Safety Team was formed made up of the Head teacher, a representative of the School Board, a Public Health Practitioner, parents, pupils
and the Local Authority Road Safety Officer. The aim of this group, through partnership, is to promote walking and cycling to school in order to encourage a healthier lifestyle among pupils. The group required to identify the current position, establish the needs of pupils and parents and consider the options available.

 LOCATION

 Dingwall Primary School is situated on the north edge of Dingwall on Ross Road
off Tulloch Drive. It is bordered by the Deas Avenue housing estate, farmland,
and is protected from the busy Old Evanton Road by a small area of woodland.
There are manned school crossing patrols on the A834, A862, Kinnairdie Brae, Old Evanton Road and Tulloch Castle Drive.

 CATCHMENT  

The school catchment covers the whole of the town of Dingwall from Pitglassie in the south, Pelaig in the north, Docharty in the west and east to the Cromarty Firth.

 

EXISTING TRAVEL PATTERNS. 

In 2003 a survey was carried out to establish travel patterns to and from school.
A total of 241 questionnaires were returned and the results collated by staff of
The Highland Council Transportation, Environmental and Community Services Department. Details of the results and suggested improvements are given at
Appendix 1.  

Safety issues

 With such a large number of pupils and the geographic catchment area of the
school it is inevitable that a high proportion of pupils will travel to and from school
 by car. On an average day up to 120 cars could be waiting for the school day to finish.

 

The main concerns and suggestions, which came from the travel survey, are
detailed at Appendix 2 and having looked at each of these the School Safety Team decided to adopt a two-pronged approach. The first is to identify physical changes, which can be made to encourage cycling, and walking by improving the safety of
 the journey to and from school. The second, and more challenging, is to educate pupils, parents and staff in order to reduce the number of cars travelling daily
to and from school and for pupils to understand the long-term benefits of walking
and cycling.  

INITIATIVES
 

Speed Reduction Road Humps

 

In 2001 when improvements were made
to the access road into the school they
included the installation of speed
reduction road humps at three points.
Two of these sets of road humps were
placed at sections of the road
alongside parking spaces enabling
cars to swerve around the road humps
into the parking areas before returning
to the roadway.

 

This practice, which has become quite common, fails to slow the vehicles down and places the pupils walking alongside the parking areas in danger from the swerving vehicles. The installation of two additional road humps in the parking areas alongside the existing ones would eliminate this problem without reducing the number of parking spaces available.

 

Secure Cycle Storage

There is currently no area within the school for pupils to leave or secure cycles
and as such cycling to school is restricted to days of proficiency training. The construction of a secure fenced cycle rack area would overcome this problem and allow cycles to be stored safely during the school day preventing damage or theft. 
 An area of tarred ground, 8 metres x 4 metres is currently not in use and would accommodate a 2 metre high fenced compound capable of holding 40 cycles in
‘toast’ racks. 
 

Such a cycle compound would be opened by the Janitor at 0830 hours and locked
 15 minutes after school activities finished. Only pupils in Primaries 6 & 7, who had completed cycling proficiency training, would be permitted to use it and it is
estimated that this would number between 25 and 30. As at present with training, cycle helmets would require to be worn and by working with the Health Board Public Health Practitioner funding may be available to assist with the purchase of suitable cycle safety helmets. 

 In order to identify safe cycle routes for children to use away from the main road options have been produced at Appendix 3 which take children into the school using existing pathways and crossing points.

Drop-off Zone

 Within the main car park of 59 spaces there is no designated drop-off zone and
with the spaces nearest the pavement often taken up by those parents taking their young children to class the remaining parents arriving with older children have to
let them alight from the cars in the middle of the car park. This causes the children
to cross lines of traffic and the cars to move in and out of parking bays. 

 

In order to avoid this practice it is intended, as detailed below, to mark off 4 of
the existing bays nearest the playground in order that they are used exclusively in
the morning to drop children off. This would allow children to leave cars by the nearside straight onto a pavement and reduce considerably the number of cars
moving about within the car park.  

 

 

 

 

Housing Development

 

A new large scale housing development is currently under construction in
St Andrew’s Drive, off Old Evanton Road, Dingwall and once complete will accommodate over 120 homes. Discussions have taken place with the developer to identify safe routes to the school without having to use the busy Old Evanton Road.
 By getting involved at an early stage the School Safety Team hope to be able to influence the final plans and discussions will continue between the team, developer and Council planners.  

Education

 The school travel survey identified that 68% of pupils live within one mile of the school yet only 55% of pupils walk to school. The Highland Council have produced large scale maps of Dingwall showing individual houses and the school has agreed
to run a project during the 2003 Autumn/Winter terms to identify where each pupil lives and what means they use to travel to school. This should identify groups living close to each other in order that they will consider walking together or have the parents share transport.  

Junior Road Safety Officers have been appointed within the school to promote
road safety and the school participates in all national initiatives towards this end.

 The school uses a house points system to reward good work and it is intended to integrate into this points for those pupils walking to and from school with distances recognised.   

The Safety Team sees education as the main means by which attitudes and
practices will be changed. Given the turn-over of pupils and parents within the
school the aim is to bring about long-term changes rather than quick-fixes and the inclusion of Road Safety and healthier living in educational inputs to the youngest pupils is seen as the way forward.

 

BUDGET ESTIMATES

 

1.                  Speed reduction road humps
 

Supply and installation of two road humps   £ 1,400 + vat

(The Highland Council)
 

 

2.                  Enclosed cycle racks
 

Supply and installation of 8 m x 4m x two metre high cycle storage area     £ 2,825 + vat

(Metalwork UK)

‘Toasts rack’ type cycle racks for 40 cycles                    £ 1,320 + vat

(Metalwork UK)

 

3.         Drop-off zone

 

White line marking of 25m x 2.5m area with 1.6m lettering          £ 796 + vat

(The Highland Council)

 Total estimated costs £ 6,336 + VAT

 

TIMETABLE
 

Assuming that the funding is available, the Safety Team envisages that the
initiatives should be accomplished in the period 2003/2004. None of the initiatives
 are dependent on the others and there are no planning implications.

 CONSULTATION

 
The Travel Plan has been prepared by the School Safety Team in consultation with The Highland Council, NHS Health Board, Education Department, parents, pupils and staff.
 

Ross Road, the access road into the school is in the process of being adopted by The Highland Council. Discussions have taken place with the Transportation, Environmental and Community Services Department on the proposed increase in speed reduction road humps and no difficulties are foreseen.

 
Parents are regularly updated on issues affecting their children and the proposals outlined will be included in the school newsletter and website.

 
 

IMPLEMENTATION

 
The safety of pupils, staff and parents travelling to and from school is one which requires constant attention and the Safety Team will continue to operate over the next two years in order to oversee the proposed initiatives, address any new concerns and monitor changes in travel patterns.  

 
  
  MONITORING                              

The School Safety Team will monitor the implementation of the Travel Plan with the help from the School Board and Parent Association. It is planned to conduct another travel survey in late 2004 in order to compare changes in travel patterns and address any new concerns raised.