As many parents and carers will know, the traffic and parking situation around the school has been both outrageous and dangerous for years. Thankfully, as the result of a lot of pressure from the Parent Council and parents/carers at the school, Glasgow City Council (GCC) agreed to put in traffic calming measures during their ongoing introduction of traffic management and parking controls across the West End. While the parking controls are not yet live (they are due to come into effect in the next few weeks), the traffic control measures are, so it is a wee bit disappointing to see that there have been a few examples of parents/carers ignoring or being oblivious to (equally worrying!) the no entry signs and large white road  markings where Fortrose Street meets Burgh Hall Street.

Also, some of the residents in the four buildings on Fortrose Street between Peel Street and the school have decided that, “no! Traffic regulations do not apply to me!” and proceeded to turn right into oncoming traffic on a one way street. Watch out for this, as vehicles and pedestrians not expecting traffic coming in the wrong direction are putting others and themselves at risk.

Part of the initial consultation stated that GCC were to also install speedbumps in order to ensure that Fortrose Street wasn’t used as a racetrack. However, these have not been installed and I have chased this up with them to ascertain why not.

Further, and unfortunately something that also happened too many times over the past few years, some parents/carers still believe that the yellow zigzags are their personal parking or dropping off zone. They are not! Parking on the yellow zigzags is illegal, dangerous and selfish. For those inclined to do so, please think about others and observe the parking controls and, absolutely in no circumstances whatsoever, DO NOT THREATEN OR INTIMIDATE parents/carers who point this out to you, such as one driver (and parent/carer) did to a parent last week.

While there is a definite and welcome improvement on the last several years, I have brought the above residual issues to the attention of the Community Police and to GCC’s Traffic Management and Parking team and have asked that they have visibility over the next few weeks and particularly when the parking controls come into force, so that they can speak with any drivers in breach of the traffic and/or parking regulations.

However, if anyone does observe any traffic or parking violations, and especially if they find themselves subject to intimidation or abuse, then they should safely take down the details of the vehicle and immediately report this to the police. It should also be reported to the school so that they too can maintain a log of such incidents.

If you do drive to school, please be careful and considerate to pedestrians and other road users! The zig zag road markings outside the school gates indicate that you should not park or stop to drop off children. This allows children a clear view of oncoming traffic when crossing.

Thank you!