Members of the public are being encouraged to participate in a public consultation regarding speed limits and the wider use of permanent 20mph zones outside schools, after concerns for safety were raised at a Banbridge Primary School.
Issues at Ballydown Primary School – on the Castlewellan Road – went viral last week after a parent of a pupil shared a video showing long tailbacks and congestion on the 60mph speed limit road that runs past the premises.
The school sits on the corner of a crossroad junction between the Castlewellan Road and Lisnaree Road which is also just metres away from a sweeping bend.
Both roads are 60mph speed limit zones with the Castlewellan Road displaying an unbroken, double, white central line indicating no overtaking due to restricted visibility.
Stopping is also prohibited on any length of road that has double white lines, even if the line on that side of the road is broken. The exceptions are stopping to pick up or set down passengers, or to load or unload.
However, taking to social media to air her frustration, Ingrid Graham – a parent of a Ballydown pupil – said of the traffic chaos developing in the area: “School pick-up is stressful at the best of times, but this situation goes far beyond stress.”
The school have allegedly campaigned for various safety improvements over the last two decades, to no avail.
Many local representatives have backed previous attempts to seek improvement measures and are once again behind parents’ increasing calls for support.
One of the suggestions put forward was for temporary 20mph speed limit zones to be introduced during the hours of school drop-off and pick-up.
While the Department for Infrastructure seem to be unyielding in their decision not to implement temporary speed limit zones, they are encouraging the public to take part in a public consultation that could see a zone implemented, if demand is made clear.
A Department for Infrastructure spokesperson said: “The Department has previously met school and elected representatives a number of times regarding safety issues and there are a number of safety measures in place.
“The latest tranche of part-time 20mph speed limits at schools did focus on rural schools that are located on roads where the national speed limit applies, unfortunately Ballydown Primary School, along with others, did not score sufficiently to be included on the programme at this time.
“However, the Minister has recently launched the public consultation on speed limits which will seek views on the wider use of permanent 20mph speed limits (including at schools), the lowering of national speed limit on rural single and dual carriageways, and the alignment of HGV speed limits with other regions.
“The Department would encourage everyone to contribute to this significant and important piece of work.
“Concerns about driver behaviour, such as dangerous overtaking, driving or speeding which causes an obstruction to other road (and footway) users, should be directed to the PSNI on their 101 number.”
