‘WALK To School Week’ has been taking place in educational establishments across our town this week, with parents urged to let their little ones get some fresh air in their lungs and some use of their legs.
As well as publicising the efforts to become more green and leave the four wheels at home, albeit temporarily, teachers and other staff have been helping to encourage ‘walking buses’, small pavement convoys of youngsters travelling to class on foot.
The notion of launching high-profile campaigns urging pupils to walk for a change will seem alien to most adult Visiter readers – most of us will have enjoyed either walking or cycling to school, having mini adventures and meeting, and making, friends along they way.
Young parents today, however, seem the most paranoid of any generation so far. Many children are rarely allowed out of sight, and most mums and dads ferry their charges directly to the school gate. Their sense of watchfulness has become even more focussed following the publicity surrounding cases of missing youngsters such as Holly Wells, Jessica Chapman and Madelaine McCann.
It has led to a dangerous situation around most school gates. Cars parked everywhere often at wild abandon, road markings ignored, roads clogged up with vehicles of all shapes and sizes. Ironically, parents are making the areas around schools more dangerous, not less.
The situation was illustrated by the accident involving Jamie Hellawell, who broke his leg on Monday after being hit by a car being driven by Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.
Local residents have rightly raised the issue of how dangerous the areas outside schools have now become at dropping off and picking up times, not just near Our Lady of Lourdes but at schools across Southport.
Right now seems a better time than many to sit down and examine the ways this problem can be tackled, to improve the safety and peace of mind of not just residents who live near schools – but also of our children.
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