Bradford school’s plea after second road death (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
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Bradford school’s plea after second road death
11:00am Tuesday 16th October 2012 in News
St Matthews head teacher Bob Curran and pupils Rameez Shazad, Ibraheem Ayoub, Hena Hussain, Hira Yusuf and Reece Falcus with the petition
A petition signed by nearly 1,000 people was today being presented on behalf of a primary school to Bradford Council, calling for traffic calming measures on a road which claimed the life of one of its pupils.
The petition was started by Rukhsana Rashid, a parent governor at St Matthew’s Primary School, Bankfoot, following the death of mother-of-seven Zakhra Bi, 34, on a pedestrian crossing in Mayo Avenue in March.
Her death followed that of St Matthew’s pupil Israr Saad, seven, who was killed when he was struck by a car at the same crossing in April 2010. The driver, Sajjad Khan, was later jailed for nine months and banned from driving for three years after he admitted causing Israr’s death by careless driving.
St Matthew’s head teacher Bob Curran said the petition was calling for traffic calming measures on the main road, including signs warning drivers of their speed and the fact that school children cross the road.
Mr Curran said: “We are very concerned about the speeds that some drivers use on Mayo Avenue and Rooley Lane. More than 450 children come to our school and many of the cross Mayo Avenue with their families twice a day.
“We know, following Mrs Rashid’s petition and some recent tragic events, that the community in general is very supportive of our campaign.
“There have been a number of near misses and it is, we feel, important that some traffic calming measures be introduced to warn drivers that children will be crossing to a primary school.”
Mr Curran said the school had held meetings with ward councillors, including Bradford Council leader Councillor David Green, and was invited to present the petition to today’s meeting of the Council at City Hall at 4pm.
He said: “Our Councillors Ralph Berry, David Green and Lynne Smith have been very supportive as have the police. We have worked together to use speed guns and issue letters to speeding drivers outside our school.
“We are very hopeful that the Council will support us in this matter.”
Comments(15)
allannicho
says...
12:12pm Tue 16 Oct 12
angry bradfordian wrote:Agree in total, well written.
There are many things wrong with Mayo Av.
The new 30mph speed limit is far too low. Surely 40 is more suitable for a dual carriageway, just off the motorway with a central reserve up the middle?
Not withstanding this, absolutely nobody seems to stick to the limit. I usually get flashed by the driver behind when doing 30. And I've never seen any traffic police about.
The parents also need to take a bit of responsibility. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen children running across the road just yards from one of the crossings.
I'd love to know how many of the 450 parents could honestly say they've NEVER broken the limit along here.
Bone_idle18
says...
12:13pm Tue 16 Oct 12
however, 9 months and a 3 year ban for going through a crossing when a child is crossing it is hardly a deterent to make people think twice about speeding.
BigFigure
says...
12:16pm Tue 16 Oct 12
angry bradfordian wrote:"following the death of Zahara Bi on a pedestrian crossing"....yeah, definitely should have taken more responsibility. Pedestrians. eh?
There are many things wrong with Mayo Av.
The new 30mph speed limit is far too low. Surely 40 is more suitable for a dual carriageway, just off the motorway with a central reserve up the middle?
Not withstanding this, absolutely nobody seems to stick to the limit. I usually get flashed by the driver behind when doing 30. And I've never seen any traffic police about.
The parents also need to take a bit of responsibility. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen children running across the road just yards from one of the crossings.
I'd love to know how many of the 450 parents could honestly say they've NEVER broken the limit along here.
angry bradfordian
says...
12:27pm Tue 16 Oct 12
BigFigure wrote:I wasn't suggesting the poor woman wasn't using a crossing.
angry bradfordian wrote:"following the death of Zahara Bi on a pedestrian crossing"....yeah, definitely should have taken more responsibility. Pedestrians. eh?
There are many things wrong with Mayo Av.
The new 30mph speed limit is far too low. Surely 40 is more suitable for a dual carriageway, just off the motorway with a central reserve up the middle?
Not withstanding this, absolutely nobody seems to stick to the limit. I usually get flashed by the driver behind when doing 30. And I've never seen any traffic police about.
The parents also need to take a bit of responsibility. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen children running across the road just yards from one of the crossings.
I'd love to know how many of the 450 parents could honestly say they've NEVER broken the limit along here.
I said I'd lost count of the number of children I'd seen NOT using crossings.
No amount of traffic calming or speed limits are going to stop morons who can't be bothered stopping at a traffic crossing with people on it.
The Hoffster
says...
2:33pm Tue 16 Oct 12
The driver, Sajjad Khan, was later jailed for *nine* months.."
..
What the ?! - 9 months (and probably out in about 4) for killing someone?
What kind of vile, heinous 'justice' is this?
Cooperlane2
says...
5:21pm Tue 16 Oct 12
They need to use the pelican crossings -there are two of them - but still be careful as we all know some cars don't stop for red lights.
collos25
says...
5:46pm Tue 16 Oct 12
lanzaman
says...
6:29pm Tue 16 Oct 12
tinytoonster
says...
8:09pm Tue 16 Oct 12
The Hoffster wrote:exactly, treat it as murder and ban for minimum 10 years.
"Her death followed that of St Matthew’s pupil Israr Saad, seven, who was killed when he was struck by a car at the same crossing in April 2010.
The driver, Sajjad Khan, was later jailed for *nine* months.."
..
What the ?! - 9 months (and probably out in about 4) for killing someone?
What kind of vile, heinous 'justice' is this?
and cush the car!!
tinytoonster
says...
8:11pm Tue 16 Oct 12
something wrong with this site!
probably because of the large amount of ads!!
Bd555555555555555
says...
9:43pm Tue 16 Oct 12
johnhem
says...
11:40pm Tue 16 Oct 12
go educate the kids and parents, make them use the crossings and they should be safe even from speeding drivers. you are looking at a few miles over the limit not 70+. its the careless drivers not watching the road and kids that have not had sufficient road awareness drilled into them that need to be watched for. i have no problem with a camera outside schools, it makes sense, but lets have sensible limits too. a good driver is aware of the road in front even when unfamiliar with it.
still got a pulse
says...
2:37am Wed 17 Oct 12
ShineyDave
says...
10:21pm Wed 17 Oct 12
many moons ago people respected the rules and laws of the road, nowadays it's just a free for all. just stand on the crossing by Asda on Rooley lane when the lights go red, you'll run out of fingers counting the vehicles that go through at red.
angry bradfordian says...
11:55am Tue 16 Oct 12
The new 30mph speed limit is far too low. Surely 40 is more suitable for a dual carriageway, just off the motorway with a central reserve up the middle?
Not withstanding this, absolutely nobody seems to stick to the limit. I usually get flashed by the driver behind when doing 30. And I've never seen any traffic police about.
The parents also need to take a bit of responsibility. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen children running across the road just yards from one of the crossings.
I'd love to know how many of the 450 parents could honestly say they've NEVER broken the limit along here.