It is nine o’clock on a weekday morning, and volunteers dressed in high-visibility jackets are helping children cross the road to reach St Patrick’s and St Laurence’s primary schools in Chapelizod, Dublin.
The people, some carrying signs that read “slow – children crossing”, are part of the Chapelizod Safe Steps group, which formed earlier this year due to concerns about road safety in the area.
Jill Murray, who has two children at St Patrick’s, said she created the group after seeing “some really hairy moments”, such as when a child suffered a broken leg last winter after being hit by a car near the school grounds.
There are 20 members who volunteer, across Tuesday to Thursday, to stand outside the schools and at nearby busy junctions.
READ MORE
Murray says traffic has been a continuing issue in the area for years, but it has got worse in the last couple of years. The volunteers cite issues such as cars running red lights, driving on to pedestrian crossings and driving in an aggressive manner.
Murray says the traffic load is heavy and includes drivers who are trying to avoid the M50 or heading into the city centre.
The volunteers’ presence at crossings “makes a big difference”, as drivers make a greater effort to adhere to the rules of the road, she says.
The group wants Dublin City Council to erect “pencil” bollards and more signage around St Patrick’s school. The members are also seeking raised platforms at pedestrian crossings and a school warden for the area.
“The margin for error is very small because there’s the footpath and then there’s the very congested road. There’s nothing to protect them,” says Murray, adding that parents have to keep their children on a “tight leash”.
Karen Kenny, who has two children enrolled at the smaller St Laurence’s school, volunteers as a traffic warden three days a week. She was on duty the day she went into labour with her son Seamus about six weeks ago.
Three days after giving birth, she was back in her high-viz near the school.
Unlike St Patrick’s school, St Laurence’s, which sits down a laneway off a busy road, does not have a pedestrian crossing directly in front of it.
“You’re just hoping that somebody stops,” she says.
“I’m out every morning at 8.35am with him in a sling manning the junction, which is just bananas.”
She recalls one day, while pregnant, when she was taking her children home from school and crossed the road when a man ran a red light while driving towards them.
“I shouted at him. He kept driving at me and I deliberately stopped and stayed on the road until the pedestrian light went red to stop him from going through.
“I shout at people every morning who break red lights and they just ignore you. They don’t care,” she says.
“You’re trying to teach your kids safe rules of the road and it doesn’t even apply because you can’t trust the lights. When the light is green I say: ‘Stop and let me check that it’s actually safe to cross’.”
On the morning The Irish Times visited Chapelizod, one of the volunteers was lightly grazed by a car that drove on to a pedestrian crossing after its traffic light had turned red.
Murray says Dublin City Council workers came to visit the site last April and compiled a report recommending an enhanced pedestrian crossing, which is currently at design stage.
The council provided “school ahead” warning signs at the approach to both schools and has recommended a sign at St Laurence’s be supplemented with flashing amber lights.
The council added a yellow box to a nearby junction that has pedestrian lights and is a key crossing point for schoolchildren. Murray says the yellow box has not helped much, as people continue to drive in to it.
A spokeswoman for the council said it will be carrying out an assessment of St Patrick’s school in “the coming weeks”.
She said the council cannot recommend a school warden be deployed to the school until such an assessment is conducted.
