Hard line on drivers ignoring school crossing patrols
Drivers who put the lives of children and school crossing patrols at risk by ignoring the `stop’ sign will face tough penalties.
Warwickshire County Council is committed to protecting both the patrols and the children they help across the road.
And this message was driven home last week at Stratford Magistrates’ Court when a motorist was found guilty of Driving without due care and attention.
She had not stopped for the School Crossing Patrol, but driven around her while she was in the middle of the road, nearly hitting her.
The driver was fined £700 including costs and had 6 penalty points put on her licence. The court recognised the importance of the work that patrols carry out to keep children safe.
The patrol was Mary Roads, whose crossing point is outside Priorsfield School on Clinton Lane, Kenilworth. She has been a patrol for more than 15 years and said that in all that time she had never seen such bad driving. She said that although she had been terrified she was relieved that there were no children on the crossing at the time.
WCC Road Safety Unit is very encouraged with this successful prosecution as unfortunately this isn’t an isolated incident.
Cllr Martin Heatley, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said: “Our patrols all too frequently report incidents of bad driving which threaten not only their own safety, but also the safety of the children. We would like to remind drivers that the so called lollipop is in fact a legal stop sign and when a patrol displays their sign to drivers stop means stop.”
School Crossing Patrols, the Police and Traffic Wardens are the only people who are legally allowed to stop traffic.
Stan Milewski, Warwickshire County Council’s Senior Road Safety Officer, said: “Drivers who do drive-through don’t realise that their details are recorded and handed to the Police for investigation. Repeat offenders will almost certainly be caught – it’s just not worth it.