Breaking News
Nightmare at pick-up zones
John Blair
Tuesday 8 April, 2008 12:01am
KISS and drop' zones at primary schools across the Hills district are becoming a nightmare for parents forced to move on or face stiff fines and points penalties for exceeding parking time limits.
One young mother, ordered to drive away from her daughter's school before the child could reach the car, told the Times how she had then watched, "terrified", from the other side of the busy road, as she made the detour to return to the regular pick-up point.
"My daughter had been delayed in class and arrived just as I was ordered to move on by a compliance officer," Belinda Bartel said.
"By the time I drove to a roundabout at one end of the road and came back on the opposite side my daughter was standing by the kerb watching me drive by in the other direction.
"I yelled to her to stay put but she could just as easily have tried to beat the heavy traffic outside the school to get to our car."
Ms Bartel said younger children may not be as cautious.
"The likelihood of a terrible accident is frightening," she said. "A younger child could have become confused and frightened seeing the parent pass in the other direction. And I hear from parents all over the area that this is a common occurrence."
Belinda Bartel's frightening episode, at Rouse Hill Public School was one of many "disasters waiting to happen", according to Hawkesbury State Liberal MP Ray Williams.
He will raise the problem of "parent parking" in a private member's statement during the current session of parliament.
"My office is inundated with complaints like this," Mr Williams said.
The problems of kiss and drop zones was also raised at Baulkham Hills Shire Council last week by Mayor Sonya Phillips who describe parent parking, particularly at primary schools, as a "most difficult and contentious issue".
"We have 36 public and private primary schools in the shire, each one with (traffic) safety issues," she said.
She said the council's greatest concern was the State Government's "refusal to deal with problems created by their own school developments, once children exit the front gate".
Efforts to bring the Department of Education to the negotiating table had been "continually hamstrung by the State Government", she said.
Baulkham Hills Council has endorsed a submission to Education and Training Minister John Della Bosca. The proposal requires all new state schools to have appropriate parent parking and kiss and drop facilities within the boundary of the school land.
