Safety measures needed to end school 'chaos' in Mayo

There is "chaos" at schools when children are being dropped off and picked up each day, a local councillor has stated.

Cathaoirleach of Mayo Co Council, Cllr Seán Carey, made his comments at a meeting of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District after learning that safety works are to be undertaken at Brackloon National School, off the N59 Leenane Road, near Westport. A new raised pedestrian crossing is to be installed between the school and a pre-school on the opposite side of the road. Funding will be provided under the Safe Route to School programme in association with the National Transport Authority.

Jessica Lima, of Tobin Engineers, outlined that there were some constraints at the location as the road is quite narrow with no markings and tends to be extremely congested during drop-off and collection times. Visibility was also poor due to a lot of bends and there was no dedicated footpath zone, making it a less safe environment for students walking in the vicinity. An existing crossing to the pre-school was uncontrolled and could also be quite dangerous.

It is intended to introduce improved infrastructure for safety and crossing, to include road narrowing to one-lane traffic between the schools in front of a raised zebra pedestrian crossing, which would compel motorists to slow down in a new 30km/h zone and ultimately stop to allow pedestrians to cross. Flashing lights and bollards would also be introduced to prevent illegal parking. In terms of the timeline, the project is currently at the preliminary design phase with a completion date set for next spring/summer.

The news was welcomed by local councillors but Cllr Carey asked whether the same safe travel infrastructure could be rolled out across all schools in Mayo, saying there is “chaos” around pick-up and drop-off times.

The council's executive engineer Cathy Mellett said schools were invited to apply for funding under the Safe Schools programme and 21 in Mayo were successful while another 40 are awaiting funding.

Cathaoirleach of the municipal district Cllr Peter Flynn pointed out that the Brackloon scheme had been announced on three separate occasions over recent years and he presumed the €200,000 allocated was the same funding under the Safe Schools programme each time. This was confirmed by council engineer Cathy Mellett. 

Cllr Flynn said it was disappointing that the works would do nothing to improve the approach roads into the school.