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Parents share concerns over 'gauntlet' school run

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Parents taking their children to school say cars are mounting the kerb on Walkley Road due to parked cars on the narrow route
  • Parents walking their children to school in a Sheffield suburb report cars mounting kerbs and aggressive behaviour on a daily basis
  • Local residents near Walkley Primary School say the road is too narrow and is unsafe for pedestrians
  • Sheffield City Council says local councillors are trying to find solutions

Taking children to school in a Sheffield suburb is like "running the gauntlet" due to cars driving on pavements, parents have said.

Residents near Walkley Primary School report drivers mounting kerbs on a daily basis due to bottlenecks caused by narrow streets and parked vehicles.

"We pass cars beeping at each other, people shouting, getting out of their cars and being aggressive," one said.

Sheffield City Council said it was discussing a "range of interventions".

Parents identified Walkley Road as the most problematic local street, reporting a significant increase in commuter traffic in recent years.

Sam Wakeling, who has two children at the primary school, told BBC Radio Sheffield: "Very often you get drivers ending up head to head and having to reverse back out to get past each other.

"Unfortunately you get drivers who just drive on to the pavement with very little slowing down.

"People will just hoot their horns and demand you walk out of the way, it's a very chaotic environment."

"The infrastructure is just not designed for the volume that's going through on a daily basis," said Sophie Parry-Oaken, who also has two children at the school.

"On a daily basis we pass cars beeping at each other, people shouting, getting out of their cars and being aggressive."

She added: "We've been shouted at as a family, it makes me feel quite emotional about how difficult it is for my children to experience that every day."

Google Walkley Primary SchoolGoogle
Walkley Primary School says it would like to see "all our families travel to and from school safely"

Sophie Williams, who lives on Walkley Road, said a 20mph (32km/h) zone along with changes to road infrastructure would improve safety in the area.

"This is 10 times more stressful than it needs to be, with some simple measures it could be made much safer for people to enjoy that walk to school," she said.

Mr Wakeling added: "It feels like it's running the gauntlet most days, it's a hectic, stressful part of the day."

In a statement, the school said it was aware the journey for some families "feels unsafe due to a lack of pedestrian infrastructure and volume of traffic".

"As a school we would like to see all our families able to travel to and from school safely and without incident," it said.

Sheffield City Council said local councillors had been discussing solutions with local residents to address the issues.

It urged anyone who witnesses poor or dangerous driving to contact the police on the non-emergency 101 number.

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