Danger at the school gate:

Remember those hazard scenario diagrams in the Road Code, where you have to pick out the potential hazards and say how you would anticipate and then moderate your driving to avoid an accident?  Our school exit would make a great one.  The main gate opens onto a blind bend where drivers are putting their foot on the accelerator to get up the hill.  There is no pedestrian crossing at this point, and as a novelty hazard we also have a pair of tramlines.  The overflow Zoo/TAPAC car park also feeds onto the road by our main gate, and although there are yellow lines painted on the road to the right of the car park exit there are no raised flower beds to physically stop cars parking there.

Many of these hazards, we as a school have no control over, although MOTAT generously hold off on running trams for the 20 minutes during which our students exit after 3.10pm.  Senior Leaders and Heads of House patrol at the end of the day to try and keep our students, your children, as safe as possible, but they will all tell you that gate duty is one of the most scary 20 minutes of the week as there are so many things to worry about.  If a student decides to run across the blind corner, calling them back can cause them to hesitate and makes the situation even more dangerous.  When cars park on the yellow lines by the car park exit, cars emerging from the car park have no visibility and have to edge their bonnet half way into the road before they decide whether to pull out (see photo).  Often the drivers then have to make a snap decision as to whether they risk accelerating out or risk being hit by oncoming traffic.