Kids Cross Safely

Lincoln City FC  joined the  Kids Cross Safely campaign at St Hughs RC School , Woodfield Ave Lincoln to lend their support to the campaign. They met with the junior road safety officers and had a discussion about road safety around the school.

Details of the day can be found on the Lincolnite  http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2011/12/lincoln-school-safety-campaign-backed-by-stars/

Callum Henry , 10 years old , dreamed of becoming a professional footballer.

On his way to collect his football kit in September , he was fatally injured. His death may have been prevented if there had been a crossing .

You can read this heartbreaking story at http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2011/11/02/campaign-to-get-road-crossing-installed-at-death-site-97319-29702294/2/ 

Please sign the petition at  http://epetition.birmingham.public-i.tv/epetition_core/community/petition/1620 

This is why the law has to be changed .  Birmingham City Council have said that they need to check the criteria.  Yet there are times when the criteria is not used and how many more children have to be seriously injured or die before they realise that  the criteria does not work.

I will continue to campaign and fight for a change in the law .

The British Government have re opened the e-petitions in July 2011 and Kids Cross Safely decided to launch the e-petition aswell as having the paper petition .

You can find the e-petition http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/15533 

Please sign and support the campaign.

On June 20th 2011 it will be Child Safety week. Events will be held around the UK.

Did you know that half the accidents caused to children are by accidents on a road.

You can find information on this at http://www.childsafetyweek.org.uk/child-safety-week/parents-section/safety-topics/road-safety/

I started my campaign in March 2009 when as a Governor of St Hughs RC,School in Lincoln we requested a pedestrian crossing from the County Council because at the time we had not had a Lollipop person for two years.On the road that the school is located there are two other nearby schools.

We thought that to request a crossing near a school would be a formality and surely the safety of children is paramount .

Yet to get a pedestrian crossing it must pass a criteria which includes how many accidents occur on a road.Thus what is being said is that children must be injured or killed before a crossing is put in.Yes this is the shocking truth.

I have been campaigning for three years.We need to change this,we need to put children first and we need a national plan.Localism works only if all Councils provide the same safety but Councils vary up and down the UK.

Now we come to the story of little Alfie. This story is heartbreaking.A four year old child,full of life ,his happy smile and a future ahead of him. His life taken from him due to lack of road safety,lack of railings and lack of pedestrian crossing.

You can read here http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/let-child-die/story-12125421-detail/story.html

When you read about Alfie you will feel the way I feel and this is why I will keep on campaigning until there are changes in the UK.

For Alfie

Kids Cross Safely campaign is supporting a campaign in Wimbledon ,London. A pedestrian crossing was removed from Haydon without consultation and it was removed as part of the *Smooth Transport* project by the Mayor of London,Boris Johnson.

The road is a difficult one to cross and is used by many residents.There are schools nearby and thus the residents wanted a crossing to be put back.This has been very difficult and although Merton Council has the resources to put a crossing back there is reluctance to do this.Kids Cross Safely requests for the crossing to be put back and we support the campaign to do this.

Please check out the campaign video

 Haydon Crossing Campaign

Living Streets has done a survey which has shown the fears of children travelling to and from school.Please read the report http://www.livingstreets.org.uk/index.php?cID=643 

This is an area where Kids Cross Safely has been campaigning on.

Zak the Zebra gallops into Witham St Hughs to demand a school crossing! 

Zak the Zebra, mascot of national road safety charity Brake, is visiting Witham St Hughs in Lincoln to back a campaign to make roads safer for children and local residents. Zak the Zebra will be showing his support to local parent Justine Willis and the community of Witham St Hughs, who have organised a protest on 6th April to call for a school crossing to be installed on Warren Lane and a 20mph limit.

Parents and teachers of Witham St Hughs Primary School live in constant fear that a child could be injured or killed. Warren Lane is a busy road with a 30mph speed limit, which carries heavy traffic through the village.  Due to development in the area, traffic volumes have increased with cars, delivery vans and lorries using the road at peak times. Local children face a daily struggle to cross the road safely to get to school. 

The campaign so far:

In 2010 a local road safety officer carried out a survey of Warren Lane. She found that the road didn’t meet Lincolnshire County Council’s criteria for installing a crossing, since few drivers were exceeding the 30mph limit and the number of unaccompanied children crossing the road was not high. The Council proposed a lollipop person, but the local community felt this alone was not enough: they want to be able to cross Warren Lane safely at all times, not just during school opening and closing times.

On 7th May 2010, local parent Justine Willis wrote to Lincolnshire County Council to demand a pedestrian crossing. This was supported by a 360 signature petition backed by the parish council, local police and Witham St Hughs Primary School.  

The Council responded by conducting an investigation. On 15th July, area highways manager Allen Brown met with local campaigners, teachers, PCSOs and the PTFA to explain that it would not be possible for a crossing to be installed due to the survey results and a lack of funding.    

 

The local community are outraged and feel impelled to act before anyone is seriously injured or killed.  They are calling for a crossing and school signs on Warren Lane, and ideally a 20mph limit to make the whole village safer for residents to walk and cycle.

Justine Willis, concerned parent, says: “It is ludicrous that we have to fight so hard to ensure that our children can cross safely to get to school.  A pedestrian crossing is such a basic road safety measure: surely crossings should be installed outside every school? What the council don’t seem to accept is the danger posed to children by traffic travelling at 30mph – if you hit a child at this speed there’s still a significant chance they will be killed or injured. We need a crossing and a 20mph limit, and we need action now, before one of our children is seriously injured or killed.” 

Julie Townsend, campaigns director at Brake, said: “As a charity that supports road crash victims, we know all too well the appalling suffering caused by the death or injury of a child. We must do more to prevent these tragedies, and to enable people to walk and cycle without fear. Nationally, Brake is calling for increased Government investment in road safety, but we are also supporting communities who want to see local action now.

“It is frankly an outrage for children to be unable to walk to school without their lives being endangered. 20mph limits and crossings are crucial in protecting children on foot, and the residents of Witham St Hughs recognise this. We’re backing their calls, and appealing to the County Council to act now, prioritising children’s safety and the basic right of all local residents to walk and cycle in safety.

“We’re also encouraging anyone concerned about children’s safety on roads to contact Zak the Zebra at www.zakthezebra.org and find out how Brake and Zak can help”.

Last year 22 under-15s were seriously injured and 230 were slightly injured on Lincolnshire roads.Across the UK, four children (under 18) are killed and 81 are seriously injured every week, and the majority of these (59%) were on foot and bicycle at the time.Brake works with communities to help prevent these needless casualties, and provides support to the families devastated by them.

Road safety campaigner seeks Newark support 8:28am Wed Mar 09, 2011 A road safety campaigner has appealed to parents in the Newark area to help with her efforts to ensure children get to school safely. Mrs Rosanne Kirk from Lincoln, who is the founder of Kids Cross Safely, was the guest speaker in Christ Church Hall, Newark, last night at a meeting organised by Newark Labour Party who are backing her campaign.

She said: “I would like to hear from Newark people about their issues and the road safety problems they face.”

Mrs Kirk has started a petition which she aims to have presented in the House of Commons once it has 100,000 signatures calling for a Bill to ensure that all schools have compulsory 20mph zones near them and safe pedestrian crossing points.

The meeting was told that if 1000 schools got 100 signatures to support the campaign and the petition then they would reach the target easily.

The vice-chairman of Newark Labour Party Trish Gurney said they had already started to collect signatures on the petition from people in the Newark area and had received widespread support.

From Newark Advertiser March 2011

Local Authorities up and down the UK are cutting or considering cutting Lollipop patrols.Lollipop patrols are important for the safety of children getting to and from schools.Kids Cross Safely will be campaigning to protect the Lollipop patrols and will be helping http://save-lollipop-people.blogspot.com/ which is a campaign started by Helen Toft in Dorset.

Here are some news reports from around the UK

Lost lollipop lady blow for Norfolk schools – News – Evening News http://t.co/QtOwtRT

  

http://www.viewfrompublishing.co.uk/news_view/8662/15/1/dorchester-parents-march-to-save-lollipop

   Lollipop patrol cuts *put lives at risk* http://t.co/TquakVk 

ciety daily 25.01.11 http://t.co/aXTj1JW via @guardian Lollipop patrol cuts

Save our Lollipop patrols