September 19, 2024

A Nottingham City Council Levelling Up-funded project to improve road safety around schools is now complete. In total 89 flashing amber lights and 183 school signs have been installed. This creates a safer space outside the school gates to encourage more people to walk, cycle or scoot to school. Over half of the primary schools in the city received the upgrade to make the approach to schools clearer and safer for both walkers and drivers. The council has also removed old equipment to make the areas tidier.

The flashing amber lights are all solar powered which will help support the goal to make Nottingham carbon-neutral by 2028. The lights warn people to slow down and will be switched on at school drop-off and pick-up times. They will not operate outside these times or outside of school term time. All schools in the city have had the zig-zag lines repainted and the times have been extended across the city to accommodate all schools’ start and finish times (8-9:30am and 2-4pm).

Alongside this, Nottingham City Council are working with schools to offer parking buddies and training over the next school year to support road safety education. So far 11,570 children have completed an online road safety quiz and 16,100 were given a road safety preparation sheet (example below). For the academic year Sep 23 – Aug 24, every primary school in the city has been given the opportunity for road safety education through Bikeability, the Education Team, loan items or Living Streets.

Nottingham City Council Leader and Executive Member for Strategic Regeneration, Transport and Communications, Councillor Neghat Khan said: “I am pleased to see the completion of this important road safety project. The flashing amber lights and new school signs are a significant step in creating safer streets around our schools. These upgrades, combined with our efforts to encourage walking, cycling, and scooting, are helping to create a safer and greener Nottingham.”