Traffic and parking around North Tyneside's schools must be made safer before someone is "killed", urge councillors.
As North Tyneside Council reviews its road safety measures, councillors urged local authority officers to ramp up traffic and parking safety precautions near schools. Several representatives from the authority relayed their own and parents' fears about dangerous driving, particularly at school-run times.
Monkseaton councillor Davey Drummond said: "School parking is a massive road safety issue across my ward. I know we have sustainable transport and we encourage parents to walk their kids or use alternative transport.
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"But the parking around schools is a problem, someone is going to end up getting killed. It is ludicrous the way some parents are going on and we need to get that across to them".
A fellow Monkseaton councillor Jane Shaw added: "My ward covers a school area, which is notorious for speeding, parking, and the rest of what goes on with school traffic.
"The rest of the time people are quite happy to go 20mph, but twice a day it's like herds of cattle coming down the street. I was leafleting in Deneholm recently and I was appalled, I was shocked by the speed of cars coming down there at 3.30pm.
"If I lived on Deneholm I would be putting a sign on my window saying twenty is plenty".
Council officers explained that while the council did encourage parents and kids to use sustainable transport to get to school, issues still persist. In addition, winter weather was also attributed to some parental decisions to drive directly to schools.
Officers also stated that the authority is looking at "targeted interventions", including educating parents on the risks of a car-based school run along with potentially heightening community enforcement patrols at known trouble spots. Officers also suggested that concerned residents and parents sign up to 'Community Speedwatch' schemes to help monitor and deter dangerous driving near schools.
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