Newsletter

Road Safety on Caroline Street

Dear Parents and Families,

 

Road safety for students and vehicles at the College

Student Safety is our most important priority, at school and travelling to and from school.

 

The College Board has raised concerns that the pedestrian and vehicle movement on Caroline Street (main College entrance) is not safe and poses a grave risk of serious injury or death to our students, parent drivers, bus drivers and other vehicle drivers.

 

 

The key concerns are:

  • Unpredictable and unsafe student-pedestrian crossing over Caroline Street. Often from between parked buses and cars, in front of approaching traffic, this reduces driver visibility of pedestrians and increases their risk of being struck by a vehicle
  • Unpredictable and unsafe parent car movement, including:
    • parking in NO STANDING areas
    • double-parking
    • cars pulling out from the kerb as pedestrians cross in front of them
    • cars pulling out from the kerb directly in front of approaching traffic
    • cars pulling out from the kerb straight into a U-Turn across Caroline St

 College Leadership has developed a three-part strategy, approved by the Board, to address this:

 

Students and Parents are to receive this information and advice about:

  • required pedestrian exit from Caroline Street
  • recommended parent drop-off and pick-up locations
  • banned crossing locations

The attached map shows where student-pedestrians are to walk when exiting/entering the College, and where they should cross the road. It also shows drop-off and pick-up locations.

 

We do NOT support parents dropping-off or picking-up their students in Caroline St at peak movement times. We ask all parents to use the recommended locations on the map.

 

We will educate students about safe pedestrian movement in the streets around the College. Students will be told that we will not accept any crossing over Caroline Street, except at the Power St intersection.There will be consequences at school for students who do not follow this direction.

 

The College will petition Council for a Supervised School Crossing on Caroline St.

 

We will also petition Council for all of Caroline St to be made a NO STANDING zone during drop-off and pick-up times. We will produce a template letter and invite parents to join us in this campaigning of council.

 

The College is going to request Police and Council to be a presence at the College during drop-off and pick-up times. 

 

The College will send Police and Council a copy of this letter and ask for their help to improve this road safety situation. Parents are advised that there are significant fines for parking in NO STANDING zones, or for some of the driving behaviours described above.

 

The College Board and the College Leadership emphasise that our primary consideration is the safety of your children and yourselves. 

We ask for your assistance in improving the road safety situation for pedestrians and vehicles in Caroline St and surrounding streets at the start and end of school days.

 

Please contact us here at the College if you have any questions or concerns.