Hamilton City Council is committed to working with parents and schools to explore ways to reduce parking concerns when dropping off and picking up children.
Schools in Hamilton face recurring issues around poor parking and driver behaviour, particularly in the winter months, such as parents parking on footpaths, across broken yellow lines, in front of residents’ driveways and double parking.
“This creates an unsafe environment for children, as well as frustration and concern for the schools and the residents that are living next to them,” said Council’s School Travel Adviser Cam Ward.
“With school rolls increasing and many parents wanting to collect their children by car, especially during these colder and wetter months, traffic congestion is inevitable.
“The majority of parents make smart choices, however most schools experience issues with a handful of parents.”
Some helpful tips for school drop-off and pick-up include:
• Park further away, rather than right outside busy school gates.
• Plan to pick up your children on side roads or in safe pick-up areas nearby.
• Encourage the use of active transport (biking, walking, etc) for those children who live close to school.
• Encourage children to have rain jackets and umbrellas for their school commute.
• If you are collecting your children by car, consider arriving five minutes after the bell when more carparks should be available.
“If more families choose to adopt some of these parking behaviours around schools, it will really help ease the congestion issues we see outside of schools,” said Ward.