School-run drivers drive up on the path and ignore car park

A request has been made to install pencil bollards outside Kingswood Community College in Tallaght before the full Safe Routes to School works are carried out.

Kingswood Community College is listed in the Safe Routes to School programme and is expected to be subject to several changes that are intended to improve safety and access, such as colourful road markings and improved cycling infrastructure.

However, parents have asked for some changes to be brought in early to address their immediate concerns.

Councillor Jess Spear noted that help is needed in the area to ensure that drivers do not park illegally near the school.

Cllr Spear: “It’s meant to get the whole shebang done in the area, which would just improve the whole of the area as well, also for the junior schools.

“But that takes a long time, as you well know, it can take up to five years, so in the meantime, the parents are asking could something small be done, could pencil bollards, could something small be installed?

“They’re just looking for something in the meantime to prevent drivers from irresponsibly parking along the footpaths and not using the car park which is really not that far away – trying to divert drivers from doing illegal and unsafe things in the area.”

As part of the Safe Routes to School process, An Taisce will carry out a study of the school to assess the needs of vulnerable road users and to examine safety issues associated with travelling to and from the site.

Once a scheme has been developed, funding will be sought from the National Transport Authority to deliver the project, and the council has noted that the school will be inspected in the interim to see if any “minor measures” could be brought in to combat the immediate concerns of parents.

Chair of the board of management at the school and local councillor Mick Duff described the problems the

school has faced with parking and safety.

Cllr Duff said: “It’s continuously the same four-wheel drives up on the path blocking the pathway – there’s a car park there that you don’t even have to park in.

“You can come in – it’s a roundabout system – up one side, down the other and back out again.

“They’re ignoring ‘no right turn’ signs coming out into the traffic that are already there for the junior school or going up the Ballymount Road.

“It’s an ongoing issue and I’m delighted that we could get something done – the school board and the

senior management team have tried everything.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.