Lane End Primary School

Operation Eagle Eye

During the Autumn Term 2015 Year 6 from Lane End Primary School worked together with some of the children from Ramillies Hall School (across the road) to try and tackle inconsiderate parking on Ramillies Avenue outside of our schools. We met together at both schools and spoke about the issue with teachers and some of the PCSOs from greater Manchester Police. The children worked in groups to decide what the main problems were and to come up with slogans and posters to try and get the road safety messages across to all car drivers. The main problem was parking on the zig-zag yellow lines outside of the school and the children were also concerned about making sure that cars did not go over the 20 mph speed limit on the road. The PCSOs looked at all of the poster ideas and choose two which would be turned into a banner to put by the road:

 Following the success of this joint Road Safety Project, pupils from both schools joined forces again, to follow up their work together by taking part in Operation Eagle Eye (February 2016). They unveiled their banner together and then began a week of work with support from their teachers and Stockport Road Safety Team and Greater Manchester Police.

Our eagle-eyed children have been observing traffic and using police speed guns to record the speed of motorists on Ramillies Avenue and Station Road.  They recorded the number of times they saw offences such as driving without a seatbelt on, using mobile phones at the wheel, speeding and parking illegally or inconsiderately - such as on Keep Clear, double yellow and yellow zig-zag markings.

The pupils have shown great enthusiasm and commitment to the project, arriving early to school to observe each morning’s school run as well as the afternoon rush as parents return to collect them.  Wearing high-visibility vests provided by Stockport Road Safety Officers and accompanied by PCSOs from GMP, their presence has had a dramatic effect on the behaviour of drivers with the number of drivers stopping illegally on the yellow zig-zag markings outside both schools dropping to almost zero by the middle of the week.

The children recorded the number of drivers they observed breaking the law on the key safety points of seatbelts, mobile phones, illegal parking outside school and speeding.  Whilst wearing a seatbelt is about protecting the occupants of the car, being distracted by a mobile phone, even for a second, could cause a driver to not notice a child stepping into their path.  Likewise, the yellow zig-zag markings are there to prevent parked vehicles blocking the view of other drivers where children may walk out into the road outside their school.

The PCSOs have spoken to drivers to advise them about any motoring offences observed by the groups and two parking tickets were also given out by the police.  The children will be collating the results of their observations and producing a report which will be published on our website.  The children want the roads around our schools to be safe places to walk and travel – please have a look at the Operation Eagle Eye website (www.stockport.gov.uk/eagleeye) and pledge your support! 

Operation Eagle Eye

A Report by Class 6 Lane End Primary School

Operation Eagle Eye is a campaign to stop cars parking/driving unsafely. School children from across Stockport have joined forces with Stockport Council and Greater Manchester Police. They are reminding drivers to drive safely around our schools.

Operation Eagle Eye has four aims:

REDUCE YOUR SPEED –20 is plenty around our school.

SWITCH OFF YOUR PHONE-your four times more likely to crash or cause an injury.

BUCKLE UP- Wear your seatbelt even if you’re on short familiar journeys at a low speed.

PARK CONSIDERATELY- and travel safely around schools.

SPEEDING

During the week of the operation, we have been using speed guns with police officers and an eagle eyed road safety group to collect the speeds of vehicles driving on Ramillies Avenue and Station Road, where two schools are located - Ramillies Hall and Lane End Primary.

On Ramillies Avenue the speed limit is 20 mph. On Monday, 4/19 (21%) vehicles were speeding and it was dry. On Tuesday, 0/60 were speeding, whilst it was wet. On Wednesday, 16/65 (25%) cars were speeding and it was also wet. On Thursday 4/10 (that equals a terrible 40%) cars were speeding. It is even more dangerous to speed when the road is wet as it takes longer for a vehicle to stop. If a child walked across the road or another car stopped quickly, there would be a much greater chance of an accident and a much greater chance of serious injury. Last year, 1,730 children died in road accidents and thousands more were injured, the majority of which happened with a 500 metre radius of a school.

SEAT BELTS AND MOBILE PHONES

In the space of just one week, 6 drivers were seen not wearing their seatbelts. You are 30 times more likely to die in a car crash if you are not wearing your seatbelt. It is illegal not to wear a seatbelt and even if you’re a passenger, you could be fined up to £500 and you will also have 3 points taken off your licence.

During the week, four people in a 20 minute period were seen driving using a mobile phone. Using a phone whilst driving is very dangerous. If adults drive without a seatbelt it will increase the chances of the children not wearing seatbelts as they are setting a bad example for them.

Statistics show that 1 in 4 crashes are now caused by the driver using a mobile phone. It is illegal to use a mobile whilst driving and the driver can be fined £100, although the government wants to increase this to £150.

PARKING

During the week, 16 cars were parked illegally - 4 on the school zig-zags. There were also other places that parents and other drivers should not be parking: double and single yellow lines, across driveways and on keep clear signs. It is a fine between £45-90. We made a song to try and prevent people from parking where they shouldn’t. It goes like this “IF YOU PARK ON THE YELLOWS OR PARK ON THE WHITE, PARK ON THE COLOURS THAT ARE VERY BRIGHT, WE SHALL FINE YOU £90, BUT IF YOU’RE ON THE PHONE IT’S £100!”

We think a lot of parents forget that children cannot see over the top of cars which is why it is so dangerous when they park on the yellow zig-zags.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Following Operation Eagle Eye, our class have the following recommendations to make:

• CCTV cameras installed on the lampposts outside both Lane End Primary and Ramillies Hall Schools. This will deter people parking illegally and may help stop people speeding.
• Police cones on the yellow lines which can be put out in the mornings and afternoons but removed in the day.
• A newsletter to parents informing them of the results of the operation and how they can help.

Thank you for reading our report.

Class 6 Lane End Primary School