Safe Routes to School at Sciennes
These logos were designed by Ben and Daniel in Primary 5

Report published 14.10.98.
Sciennes Safe Routes to School Group
Sciennes Primary School,
Edinburgh
Safe Routes to Sciennes Project 1998
 
 
 
Published by the Sciennes Safe Routes to School Group (SSR2SG) who are a group of Sciennes parents. The group is independent of the school and of the school board. The aims of the Sciennes Safe Routes to School Group are listed in the Appendix. The SSR2SG has been working alongside the school on a Safe Routes to School project. This aims to encourage more families and children to walk or cycle to school, by highlighting and campaigning for improvements to routes,which they and their parents feel are relatively free from danger.

Executive Summary

3

Introduction

4

School Description

4

Access Arrangements

4

Health and Fitness

5

Comenius project

5

Survey Results

6

...Existing Travel Patterns

6

... Traffic outside

7

... Accidents & Fear of Traffic

7

... Reasons for car use

8

... Reducing need to drive/making journey safer

8

... Desired mode of travel

9

Initiatives to date

9

... Walking trains

9

... Walk/Cycle to School weeks

9

... Installation of cycle parking racks

10

... Cycling Proficiency

10

... Fun Bike Ride

10

... School walking and cycling policy

10

Safe Route Proposals

11

... 1. Closure of Sciennes Road

11

... 2. 20 mph speed limit

12

... 3. Traffic calming

12

... 4. Pedestrian crossing on West Savile Terrace

12

... 5. Junction Improvements

13

... 6. Cycle Route along South Lauder and Lauder Roads

13

... 7. Improved cycle training

14

... 8. Pedestrian crossing/crossing patrol on Marchmont Road

14

... 9. Improvements to traffic lights

14

... 10. School crossing patrols

15

... 11. Other schools/Green Transport Plans

15

Immediate Action Plans

15

... City Development Department

15

... Education Department

15

... Recreation Department

16

... Corporate Services Department

16

... Lothian and Borders Police

16

... Lothian Safe Routes

16

... Sciennes Safe Routes to School Group

16

... Sciennes Primary School

16

... Contacts and References

16

Executive Summary
Sciennes School has an off centre catchment area, which stretches up to 2 miles from the school, so is particularly suited to cycling as well as walking. A survey of all children has been done which had a very good response rate (62%). This found that at present 57% walk, 3% cycle, 5% use the bus and 35% are driven.
There is a high perception of road danger at the school - 44% identified points on their journey that they regard as being particularly dangerous. There is a strong desire to cycle to school. 43% of children say they would like to cycle to school, with 37% preferring to walk.
The Safe Routes to School Group has been working with the school to promote walking and cycling in the form of;-
A positive policy for encouraging walking and cycling has been adopted by the school. The Safe Routes to School Group have recently endorsed the Slower Speeds Initiative calling for lower speed limits.
The Safe Routes to School Group propose that a safe routes network be created to serve the catchment area. Key features of the proposal include;
The closure of Sciennes Road and associated traffic calming and a pedestrian crossing on West Savile Terrace are the two most important from the list above.
Walking and cycling are healthy, fun and cheap. Physical measures to make walking and cycling safer benefit everyone, young and old alike, and provide significant benefits for the community in reducing noise and air pollution, CO2 emissions and traffic congestion. Less reliance on the car and more people walking and cycling brings more business to local shops and businesses.
The promotion of walking and cycling receives strong support from the whole school. A lot has already been achieved at Sciennes through the work, imagination and enthusiasm of the children, teachers and parents. The Safe Routes to School Group would like to work with the school, the City of Edinburgh Council, the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, local residents and businesses, Lothian and Borders Police and Lothian Safe Routes to establish a better environment for everyone in the neighbourhood of Sciennes Primary School.
Introduction
Twenty years ago Denmark had one of the worst child pedestrian accident rates in Europe. This prompted the Danish government to implement a Safe Routes to School programme. In the town of Odense child cycle and pedestrian accidents have been cut by 80% over a 10-year period. In many schools around two-thirds of children regularly cycle to school.
In the UK many local authorities have been implementing Safe Routes to School projects, some of them in partnership with Sustrans, the charity promoting the National Cycle Network. Funding has come from Local Authority transportation budgets, Department of Transport grants (England) and Cycle Challenge funding (Scotland).
In Lothian, Spokes, the Lothian Cycle Campaign, held a competition to encourage schools to come up with their own safe routes projects. As a result of the interest shown Lothian Safe Routes was set up to encourage and co-ordinate projects. The City of Edinburgh Council set up a pilot scheme with four schools. Sciennes School is not one of the pilot schools. The project at Sciennes began after the pilot schools had been chosen.
In 1997 Sciennes Primary received funding for a Comenius project. This is a three-year project sharing experiences with schools in other European countries. Safe Routes to School was chosen as the basis for this work which took place in the spring term of 1998.
The Safe Routes to School project work was skilfully integrated into the curriculum by the two P5 teachers and some of the work will be featured in the Scottish Safe Routes to School curriculum guide to be published by Sustrans and Lothian Safe Routes. The project will also be included in the Department of Transport best practice guide.
The initiatives undertaken so far and the proposals in this report have strong support from the school, including the headteacher, the school board, parents and children. A group of parents have formed the Sciennes Safe Routes to School Group (SSRTSG) to promote walking and cycling at the school. This group is independent of the school and of the school board. A full list of aims and objectives of the SSRTSG are contained in the Appendix.
This report summarises the progress that has been made to date, including details of the Comenius project, results from the pupils' questionnaire, details of initiatives already undertaken and proposals for route improvements.
School Description
Sciennes Primary is a City of Edinburgh Council school with approximately 600 pupils. It lies in a residential area close to the Meadows, a large public open space in the south of Edinburgh. The school is near to the edge of its catchment area, which is approximately 2 miles in length by 1 mile wide. Many parents who live outside the catchment area choose to send their children to Sciennes.
Local housing is a mixture of tenements, Victorian houses and newer housing. It also encompasses the Nicholson Street/Newington Road & Argyle Place/Warrender Park Road shopping areas and the Sick Kids Hospital.
Access Arrangements
Sciennes Primary was built in 1892. The rear playground is now mainly used as a staff car park, delivery area and to house a portacabin classroom. For safety reasons no pupils are allowed to enter the school from the rear. The front playground has two gates giving access to pedestrians and cyclists. This is used as a meeting place both before and after school.
Traffic calming has already been introduced immediately outside the school in the form of chicanes and priority give ways. A school crossing patrol is on duty at one of the road chicanes to help children cross Sciennes Road. Most of the pupils who arrive by car are dropped off in Sciennes Road or on the corners of Tantallon Place/Sciennes Road or Livingston Place/Sciennes Road.
The combination of cars waiting to go through the road chicanes and large numbers of cars parking at corners and on the yellow school zigzag lines makes the traffic situation at drop-off/pick-up times chaotic and very dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians, including those children being dropped off by car. On the rare occasion when the school crossing patrol is off sick and no back up is provided, crossing the Sciennes Road can be difficult and take a long time as the backlog of cars clears.
In addition, the chicanes do little to slow down traffic that has priority.
Health and Fitness
Walking and cycling to school provides excellent opportunities for children to get physical exercise on a regular basis. By establishing regular patterns of exercise at an early age, children can be encouraged to continue taking regular exercise into adolescence and adulthood. Encouraging children to walk and cycle to school, whether accompanied or not, will increase the chances of them using walking and cycling as means of transport when they are older.
Physical exercise decreases the risk of heart disease, reduces high blood pressure, counters obesity, retards osteoporosis (brittle bones), improves muscle tone, helps prevent back pain and increases psychological well being.
Walking and cycling to school is also good 'wake-up exercise'. A recent study of school children in Glasgow showed that children who are driven to school are less alert and not as fit as classmates who cycle to school .
Children being driven to school may also be exposed to higher levels of traffic fumes than those children walking or cycling to school. This is due to the air intake of one car being directly behind the exhaust pipe of the car in front .
Comenius project
Two Primary 5 classes have been working on a Comenius project in conjunction with schools from Catalan, Denmark and Greece who are our Comenius friends in Europe. This is a three-year project with some funding available for extra staff time and resources such as use of a camera, camcorder etc. Sciennes decided that a Safe Routes to School project would have a lot of scope for developing curriculum work and for sharing experiences with children at the schools in the other countries.
As part of the project children did traffic surveys on local streets and wrote letters to people such as council officials and road safety officers. They also interviewed children about their routes to school, photographed problem areas, made a model of the school neighbourhood and wrote poems and songs about their own journeys to and from school. The project involved Maths, English, Expressive Arts and Environmental Studies and was planned using the National Guidelines 5-14.
The following people made visits to the school; -
The children then prepared a slide and tape show with the help of Slide Workshop showing the problems around Sciennes and some of their ideas for solving the problems. The full text for the slide show is included in the Appendix.
The slide show was shown to all the children in the school and questionnaires handed out to find out more information on how the children came to school and how they would like to travel. The questionnaires also asked about the route used, the reasons for driving and prompted for ideas to reduce car use. They were asked to mark routes on a map and to mark dangerous points. Copies of the questionnaire and detailed results are included in the Appendix.
On the 12th of May 1998 over 100 parents, several local councillors representing most of the catchment area, officials from the City of Edinburgh Council, road safety officers and school crossing personnel came to see the slideshow. They also saw an exhibition of the pictures, graphs and maps that the children had prepared as part of normal classwork.
Survey Results
See the Appendix for detailed reports of the survey results.
 
Existing Travel Patterns
A survey of all children in the school was undertaken as part of the Comenius project. 370 survey forms were returned from a school roll of 600 (62%). The majority of pupils walk (57%) to school. A few cycle (3%) and a few catch the bus (5%) and then walk. Over a third of children are driven to school.
Fig1 main method of travel to school
The survey also asked for all other ways that children get to school, not just their usual way. This showed that there was considerable variation from day to day with 57% sometimes coming by car, 74% sometimes walking and 10% sometimes cycling. Reasons for the variation were mostly weather conditions and whether or not a parent was going onto work, the shops etc.
Fig 2 Methods sometimes used to get to and from school
Most pupils live within easy walking or cycling distance to school with 52% living less than a mile away and 35% having 1-2 miles to travel. 13% live more than 2 miles away.
Fig 3 Distance all children travel to school
23% of those driven to school are travelling less than a mile.
Fig 4 Distance car drivers travel
Most Primary 1(P1) and P2 children are accompanied to school by an adult. Children start to be allowed to travel to school on their own in P3 (13%; age 7/8) and P4 (20%; age 8/9) with this trend increasing in P5 (56%; age 9/10), P6 (65%; age 10/11) and P7 (69%; age 11/12). Most of the 10 children that regularly cycle are accompanied by an adult with just 2 (P4 & P5) cycling on their own. Note that P4s and P5s are not offered any form of cycle training at present. The survey was done before cycling proficiency training was given to P7 pupils. This training led to a marked increase in the numbers of older children cycling to school.
 
Fig 5 Main travel method showing accompanied and unaccompanied children by year
Traffic outside
 
To complement the survey a traffic count was done on a Wednesday during the summer term between 8:30am and 9 am. Cars were counted in 10 minute blocks travelling along Sciennes Road and notes were made of how many cars were dropping off children and how many were non-school traffic. Full count results see the Appendix.
This count gave a total of 328 cars using Sciennes Road with 93 being school traffic. The number of non-'school-traffic' cars was surprisingly high with 235 such cars using Sciennes Road in just half an hour.
Accidents & Fear of Traffic
A map showing the location of pedestrian and cycle accidents in the vicinity of the school in the 5 years up to 1998 is included in the Appendix.
Many minor accidents or near misses to pedestrians and cyclists go unreported and so do not appear in accident statistics with up to 70% of slight casualties going unreported.
In the first half of 1998 there have been at least 2 minor accidents involving Sciennes pupils. In both cases the children were walking to school and were hit by cars. Fortunately neither child was seriously injured. Neither of these 2 accidents were reported by the children's parents to the police and so do not appear on the map above. It is very likely that there are many similar minor accidents that have not been reported.
Question 6 asked if there were parts of the journey that didn't feel safe. However these responses do not give a real insight into the perception of danger, which might influence their mode of travel. For instance a child might feel safe when accompanied by an adult but wouldn't feel safe walking on their own. Similarly a parent driving would feel that their child was safe but would perceive dangers that would prevent them from cycling. This is obviously a difficult area but it is important that 'Safe Routes' initiatives don't just aim to improve existing accident statistics as in many cases a lack of accidents exists because there is a perception or reality that conditions are too dangerous to allow walking or cycling.
Many people marked danger points on the map or gave additional comments that indicated that they did perceive dangers on the route to and from school. We have attempted to quantify this by counting the number of surveys that gave a response indicating a 'perception of danger'. 44% of respondents gave some indication in this way.
Reasons for car use
Question 7 asked "What is the reason for going by car?" In responses more than 1 reason was often given. The responses were:-
Other comments/reasons were also given. A list is in the Appendix.
There is a strong linkage between using the car and a parent going on to work, shops, etc. Only 19 gave "too dangerous" as the reason for using the car. This was surprising as there were many additional comments given referring to dangerous crossings and roads a total of 27 extra comments. Also 47 car drivers (36%) made some reply, either by marking a point on the map, entering a comment etc.) indicating that they perceived danger on the route to school. Bad weather was also an important influence (15 replies) on parents' decision to drive to school.
Reducing need to drive/making journey safer
Questions 6, 8 and 9 prompted for suggestions in which the journey to school could be made safer or the need to drive reduced. We have attempted to quantify the responses. The full lists are given in the Appendix. The most common ideas given were; -
From the additional comments given, sharing the drive to school already seemed to be happening to some extent. Parent chaperones are already being promoted in the form of 'Walking Trains' &endash; see Initiatives to date for more details.
Everyone walking on the same route is something that will follow as measures are introduced to make dangerous crossings safer and more people are encouraged to walk. Walk to School Weeks can be a useful of way of showing people that there are increasing numbers of families and children walking to school. By leaving the car at home for a week or even a day or two, families can discover that there is another family living close to them who are also walking and who could accompany them in the future.
More crossing guides, particularly at West Savile Terrace, Sciennes Road/Sciennes and Marchmont Road were also mentioned.
Additional suggestions were a school bus service, safe cycle routes and better weather(!). A full list is in the Appendix.
Desired mode of travel
Fig 6 Desired method of travelling to and from school
There is a strong desire among children to be able to cycle to school. 43% would like to cycle whilst 37% would prefer to walk. The potential number of bus users remains fairly constant at 4%.
Fig 7 Present and desired methods of travel to school
Initiatives to date
The school and the Safe Routes to School Group have already undertaken several initiatives. The aims were to promote walking and cycling and to increase awareness of their benefits. The initiatives include:
Walking trains
Several families at the outer edge of the catchment area got together in early 1998 to form a walking train. This involves the adults taking turns to escort the children to school. Another walking train was set up in the autumn term from a different starting point. We have been promoting these at the beginning of term and during Walk/Cycle to School Weeks and would like to set up more with more families and a variety of starting points.
Walking trains seem to work best when families know each other and are a way of acknowledging a process that often already happens on an informal basis. Parents and children get to know each other and parents begin to feel happy in trusting other parents to escort their children to school. At the same time parents can assess the road sense and reliability of the other children and become prepared to take on the escorting role. Promoting walking trains during Walk to School Weeks helps to facilitate this process by encouraging families to get to know each other and generating a sense of community.
A cycling train has also been mooted but will probably have to wait until a cycle crossing of Grange Road has been installed and cycle training provided for more children.
Walk/Cycle to School weeks
In May the school had a 'Walk to School' week which was heavily promoted by the children themselves with an excellent poster campaign. During this time those families who lived outwith the catchment area were encouraged to join in with the walking train so that the children walked at least part of the way to school. This was fairly successful &endash; there were a total of 24 children taking part &endash; but this dropped to 10 for subsequent weeks.
A 'Walk/Cycle to School' week was held in September as part of the Festival of the Environment. We again promoted the walking trains as well as offering discounted hire of trailer bikes and child trailers in partnership with a local bike shop and Lothian Safe Routes. Lothian Safe Routes has purchased a trailer bike to demonstrate (and loan) to schools, parents and pupils that cycling with even young children is a viable alternative to the car. Several children already arrive at Sciennes by trailer bike, but at most schools the idea is completely unknown or merely regarded as a curious whim.
We hope to have 'Walk/Cycle to School' weeks as biannual events using them to promote the health benefits of walking and cycling, encourage more walking trains and to show that cycling with children can be safe and fun.
 
Installation of cycle parking racks

In Feb/March 1998, 12 cycle racks, sufficient for 24 bikes, were installed. Two of these were placed at the rear of the school for the use of staff and ten in one of the original cycle sheds in the front playground. The racks have already led to an increase in cycling from 9 in autumn 1997 to 15 (regularly) &endash; 22 (maximum so far) in May 1998. Part of this could be seasonal though certainly not all. Several children have encouraged their parents to cycle to work so that they can be escorted to school by bike. Several very young children ride on the pavement alongside their parents pushing buggies. At least another 10 children arrive by trailer bike, child trailer or child seats on adult bikes.

Figure 8 Bike racks in use at Sciennes

The racks installed were of the "Sheffield" type which have been designed to suit adult bikes. These have proven t o be unsuitable at Sciennes where they are simply too large for many of the children's bikes.
Four small bikes can be locked to the uprights of the rack but little use is made of the crossbar. The racks also make very tempting gym bars! The school would like to explore ways of getting more suitable bike parking racks.
Cycling Proficiency
Cycling proficiency training was provided for all P7 children (99) in May. Training was given by a police road safety officer to parent volunteers who then trained the children in the playground. The road safety officer then tested the children. Some parents have asked for on-road training as a follow-on to this. The Safe Routes to School Group will continue to support the school in providing cycling proficiency training. We will also explore ways of expanding and improving cycle training.
Fun Bike Ride
A very successful bike ride was organised in June as part of National Bike Week. This was a 9-mile round trip to Spylaw Park on mostly off-road paths. Approximately 60 children (ages 5 &endash; 12) & 40 parents, including the chair of the school board, took part as well as the headteacher and two other teachers. Attendance would have been even higher if more notice had been given to working parents. We plan to repeat this event next year.
School walking and cycling policy
Some schools refuse to have bike racks installed and try to ban children from cycling to school. They do this in the belief that, if a child has an accident on the way to or from school, they will be held to blame. Fortunately, Sciennes has a more enlightened and positive approach. It supports parents who wish their children to walk or cycle to school whilst making clear that the journey to school is the parents' responsibility. It is the parents and the parents alone who must decide whether or not a child can walk or cycle to school, whether or not they should be accompanied by an adult and, if so, who that adult is. Neither Sciennes School nor the Safe Routes to School Group accepts any liability for any consequences of that decision.
The school has a cycle permit scheme to encourage children to look after their bikes, obey the Highway code, undertake cycle training where it is available and to act responsibly with their bikes. A copy of the permit is given in the Appendix.
Information on this policy, on the bike racks and permits was given to all new P1 parents at the induction day in June 1998. The Safe Routes to School Group and walking trains were also publicised. This has led to a positive attitude among the new intake of parents and has already led to the establishment of a new walking train and to an increase in walking and cycling amongst P1 children. In future this information will be published in the Sciennes School prospectus.
Safe Route Proposals
Many of the following proposals have been put forward by the P5 pupils themselves following the classroom project. The returned surveys have reinforced all of the children's ideas and thrown up some additional suggestions.
The Safe Routes to School Group regards the closure of Sciennes Road and associated traffic calming and a pedestrian crossing of West Savile Terrace as the most urgent priorities.
Figure 9 Sciennes catchment showing location of school and proposed improvements.
 
1. Closure of Sciennes Road
The large number of cars converging on the area immediately outside the school increases the danger to pedestrians and cyclists. The volume and speed of traffic and cars parking at junctions are obvious dangers.
We would like to see Sciennes Road closed to all traffic, except pedestrians and cyclists, for the length of the school frontage. The grass area on the south side of Sciennes Road is maintained by the Recreation Department but could be landscaped to provide an access route for pedestrians and cyclists. Road closure would have to be implemented with other measures so that traffic was diverted onto Grange Road and Melville Drive and not onto adjoining residential roads, particularly Hatton Place and Melville Terrace.
We will continue to promote walking and cycling in order to reduce the volume of school traffic. In the meantime we would like to minimise the impact of school-related cars at the school. One way of achieving this would be to create a "safe zone" around the school by a combination of the closure of Sciennes Road, a 20mph speed limit and measures to make crossing the minor roads close to the school much safer. Not only would this make pedestrians and cyclists be and feel much safer, parents dropping off children by car could be encouraged to do so further away from the school. Children could then walk the final part of the journey thus dispersing the impact of the cars.
While the traffic situation is the main impetus to closing the road a side effect would be the opportunity to extend the school playground across the existing road. This is badly needed at Sciennes where the popularity of the school has now increased the number of pupils to 605. The School Premises Regulations (1967) state that new-build schools with more than 450 pupils should have a site area of not less than 1.2 Hectares. Sciennes has a site area of 0.5066 Hectare.
This would also create the opportunity to extend the site of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children by closing Sciennes Road along the frontage of the hospital. Examples of the uses for which this extra space could be used are a playground or garden for patients and visitors.
2. 20 mph speed limit
Reducing the speed of all vehicles within the catchment area would be a very effective way of both making the roads around Sciennes safer and of encouraging more walking and cycling.
Several pilot 20mph zones have been introduced in England since 1991 and are currently being introduced in Scotland. Their introduction has led to a reduction in the number of child pedestrians and cyclists of more than 60%.
In the Netherlands where investment has been made in dedicated cycle paths or in roads with low speed limits, 60% of journeys to school are by bike.
26 parents mentioned in their response that speed should be reduced near the school. These were comments that were given unprompted. It is likely that, if asked, many more parents would support the idea of such a speed limit. Indeed, in 1994 94% of Scottish motorists were in favour of reduced speed limits outside schools. A customer survey carried out by Autoglass in 1995 found that 90% would support 20mph limits 'at places like schools and busy town centres, where there are vulnerable pedestrians'.
We would like to see a 20mph speed limit throughout the school catchment area to protect children on the whole of their journeys to and from school. This is consistent with the recent approval in principle by the City of Edinburgh Council of the phased introduction of a city wide 20mph speed limit. The Sciennes Safe Routes to School Group have already endorsed the Slower Speeds Initiative which calls for lower speed limits particularly in urban areas and the Sciennes School Board will be considering this matter soon.
3. Traffic calming
Melville Terrace - Fingal Place and Findhorn Place are used as ratruns to avoid traffic lights. Such ratrunning is inappropriate and increases danger to cyclists and pedestrians who often choose to use quieter roads.
We would like to see traffic calming measures to discourage ratrunning on Melville Terrace &endash; Fingal Place and Findhorn Place. Livingston Place and Hatton Place would need to be traffic calmed in tandem with the closure of Sciennes Road to discourage further ratrunning.
Melville Terrace &endash; Fingal Place is currently a signed cycle route and traffic calming it would have the additional benefit of making it safer and more attractive to cyclists. It would then be a useful link between the cycle paths at Buccleuch Street/Causwayside, the proposed cycle route on Lauder Road and the Meadows paths accessed from Argyle Place. This would help to complete a useful network of paths for cyclists in this area.
4. Pedestrian crossing on West Savile Terrace
The maps in our survey indicated that 41 children cross West Savile Terrace to reach Sciennes. A further 24 drive past West Savile Terrace but could potentially also use this crossing as pedestrians. These figures are scaled to represent the whole school population and give a total of 65 children from Sciennes that would benefit from a crossing at this junction. Older children attending Boroughmuir, James Gillespies and other schools also use this junction. At the time that children are crossing this road in the morning the volume of traffic makes this a particularly hazardous crossing and residents have lobbied the council for many years for safety improvements.

The busy West Savile Terrace and the railway line that runs parallel to it bisect the catchment area. A pedestrian crossing here is particularly vital as the railway line means that there are no quiet alternative routes that pedestrians could use. Even though West Savile Terrace is at the opposite end of the catchment area to the school West Savile Terrace was identified in our survey as one of the most dangerous and urgent crossing points to address.

Figure 10 West Savile Terrace - highlighted as one of the most dangerous crossings in the Sciennes catchment

We would like traffic lights with a pedestrian phase to be installed at the West Savile Terrace/Mayfield Road junction. This would help to slow down traffic that travels too fast down the hill and often fails to stop at the existing pedestrian crossing on Mayfield Road.
5. Junction Improvements
Children in particular are at risk because of their height. Hence they have difficulty both seeing past parked

cars and being seen. In road safety lessons children are taught to find a safe place to cross but this is very difficult when residential roads are clogged with parked cars even at the corners. Nearer the school corners that should be clear because of the yellow lines (both single and double) are often parked with parents' cars increasing the danger to the children walking.

Junctions that were cited as being particularly dangerous are;

  • Livingston Place/Sciennes Road
  • Livingston Place/Melville Terrace
  • Tantallon Place/Sciennes Road
  • Grange Loan/Findhorn Place
  • Argyle Place/Warrender Park Road

Figure 8 Bike racks in use at Sciennes

We would like to see improvements at the above junctions to prevent cars parking and to give pedestrians clear visibility. Building out the corners, raising the road and providing crossing points could do this. Introducing a 'Safe Zone' near the school would encourage parents driving to drop off on Grange Road and Melville Place and not near the school.
 
6. Cycle Route along South Lauder and Lauder Roads
There has been a steady increase in the number of children coming to school by bike. In September 1997 the

number of cycles parked at school was usually 9-10. In August 1998 there were regularly 16-18 cycles along with a marked increase in the numbers of children arriving by trailer bikes, child seats on adult bikes, etc. Initiatives such as cycle parking, cycle training and 'Walk/Cycle to School' weeks have all helped to increase the awareness that cycling to school is not only possible but also fun, safe and healthy.

The number of children, parents and teachers coming on the Fun Bike Ride in June shows that there are a large number of families who would

consider cycling to school if better facilities were in place.

Figure 12 A Sciennes family doing the school run by bike

Lauder and South Lauder Roads are wide roads that run for a distance of more than a mile from the school into the catchment area. We would like to have a cycle route installed along these roads with a safe cycle crossing across Grange Road. A cycle route here could link up with the Meadows routes at Argyle Place to form a good link into the South Edinburgh cycle network. Children attending secondary schools at Boroughmuir and James Gillespies' and Heriot's along with many commuters (perhaps some who currently use Marchmont and The Grange as an all day car park) and shoppers would also be able to make good use of such a cycle route. A cycle route on Lauder Road has already been proposed by the City Development Department as part of the South Central Edinburgh network. We would like this route to be given priority as part of the development of this network. As part of the design work to complete the network in this area, the Argyle Place/Melville Drive/Melville Terrace junction needs to be redesigned to provide better protection for vulnerable cyclists and pedestrians. The issue of double parking in Argyle Place also needs to be tackled.
7. Improved cycle training
The Road Safety Unit of the Lothian and Borders police currently provides cycle proficiency training to children in P6 and P7. In previous years this was optional. However last year cycle proficiency training was compulsory for all P7 pupils at Sciennes, as the school wanted to encourage 100% participation. We welcome the school's commitment to high levels of participation in cycle proficiency and will encourage the involvement of as many parent volunteers as possible so that the maximum number of P6s and P7s can be trained. There is an increasing number of interested parents and experienced cyclists at the school who are prepared to be involved in this.
The current proficiency training involves bicycle control and road skills and is taught entirely in the playground. This means that unless a child comes from a 'cycling family' a child will have gained no experience of real road conditions. We would like to see the training extended to include an element of on-road training to give children increasing experience and confidence. On-road training is common practice in many schools in England and other parts of Scotland and involves riding on minor roads that have received a risk-assessment beforehand. An on-road element is likely to make training more effective as is subsequent opportunities to practice the training given.
The Road Safety Unit of Lothian and Borders Police and the Scottish Road Safety Campaign are preparing a syllabus and training material for cycling proficiency with an on-road element. The Safe Routes to School Group would welcome an opportunity to work with the school and other groups to expand cycle proficiency training at Sciennes.
However the majority of children who sometimes cycle to school are in years P1 &endash; P5 and so will not be eligible for the cycle proficiency training provided by the police. An adult will accompany the vast majority of these(1 P4 and 1 P5 child are currently cycling to school unaccompanied). Most of the very young children will also still be light enough for child seats on adult bikes.
The Safe Routes to School Group would like to explore opportunities to provide cycle training for parents so that they can gain the necessary skills and confidence to be able to take their children out cycling themselves. This would enable;-
1. Parents and children to cycle together to school.
2. Parents to then have the opportunity to then go on to work, the shops, etc. by bike.
3. Parents to take their children out cycling so that can practice cycling and road skills. This is particularly important for children who are old enough to have received cycle proficiency training and makes the training more effective.
 
8. Pedestrian crossing/crossing patrol on Marchmont Road
Although children who live on the far side of Marchmont Road are outside the catchment area, several children do cross it to reach Sciennes. Sciennes children going on to secondary schools at Boroughmuir, James Gillespies' and St. Thomas' will all have to cross Marchmont Road.
At present there is no school crossing patrol on duty here although there has been a vacancy since October 1991. We suspect that part of the difficulty in filling this vacancy is because patrolling this busy road would not be easy or safe even for the crossing patrol. The recent improvements on Marchmont Road include build outs to give pedestrians easier access to the pavement and this should make crossing safer. We would now like strenuous efforts to be made to fill this vacancy. In the longer term a pedestrian crossing, possibly near the junction with Warrender Park Road, is needed. As well as benefiting children from many schools in the neighbourhood, this would be used by many pedestrians, particularly those visiting the shops that are on both sides of the road.
9. Improvements to traffic lights
There are two sets of traffic lights in the vicinity of the school that have pedestrian phases but incomplete sets of 'green man/red man' lights. In each case these lights are provided in the east/west direction but not the north/south direction which is probably the main pedestrian movement along these main roads. Children who are learning road safety skills need to be able to concentrate on the traffic and not have the distraction of having to look for signals in one direction so that they can cross safely in another.
The following traffic light junctions need to have complete sets of pedestrian signals installed;-
Melville Drive/Hope Park Terrace
Mayfield Road/West Mayfield Road
10. School crossing patrols
The SSR2SG would like more effort to be made to recruit school crossing patrols, particularly where there are already vacancies, such as at Argyle Place and Marchmont Road and also to provide reliable back-up for holidays and illness cover.
We would also like school crossing patrols on the very busy junction at Livingston Place/Sciennes Road, at the Sciennes Road/Sciennes T-junction and at the pedestrian crossing of Buccleuch Street near Gifford Park.
11. Other schools/Green Transport Plans
Sciennes Primary School has already adopted very positive policies on walking and cycling and these will be published in the school prospectus. The benefits of healthy exercise are publicised and bike racks are available for pupils' use. Unfortunately this support is not in place when children move on to secondary school. Most Sciennes pupils move on to Boroughmuir High but some also go to James Gillespies' High, St. Thomas of Aquins and others. We would like the Education Department to encourage all schools in Edinburgh, particularly those listed above, to adopt positive policies on walking and cycling and to install bike parking racks. Bike racks installed should be suited to children's bikes. This is particularly relevant at primary schools. The SSR2SG would like the City Development Department to work with Lothian Safe Routes to decide on a design of cycle parking that is suitable for schools. This could be done through a school design project or a school-based trial. Sciennes School would be happy to be involved in the trial of cycling racks for primary schools.
SSR2SG would also like Boroughmuir High, James Gillespies' (Primary and High) and St. Thomas of Aquins to undertake Safe Routes to School projects. This would be particularly fitting as Bruntsfield Primary School is taking part in the council's Safe Routes pilot project and also feeds into these secondary schools. It would also enable full benefit to be gained from measures implemented for pedestrians and cyclists and of the recently installed cyclepath from Bruntsfield to the Meadows.
SSR2SG would also like the Education and Corporate Services Departments to work together with the school to develop Green Transport plan for Sciennes. Encouraging staff to walk, cycle and use public transport would have benefits such as fitter, healthier staff, less demand for parking spaces, less pollution and would help to create a real ethos of green travel at the school. One barrier to more staff cycling that has already been identified at Sciennes is the lack of adequate changing and shower facilities for staff, many of whom travel a few miles to school. The cost would be minimal, involving upgrading the existing shower and building changing cubicles.
Immediate Action Plans
City Development Department
Education Department
Recreation Department
Corporate Services Department
Lothian and Borders Police
Lothian Safe Routes
Sciennes Safe Routes to School Group
Sciennes Primary School
Contacts and References
Slower Speeds Initiative - an alliance of organisations including Sustrans, Transport 2000 and the Road Danger Reduction Forum calling for lower speed limits. Individuals and organisations can endorse this initiative - more inforation from The Slower Speed Initiative, PO Box 746, Norwich NR2 3LJ
Home zones - reclaiming residential streets for the people who live in them. Very low speed limits and pedestrians and cyclists have priority over cars. Common in many European countries and gaining increasing support in the UK. For more details contact the Children's Play Council, tel: 0171-843-6016, website at: http://www.ncb.org.uk/cpc.htm
Spokes, the Lothian Cycle Campaign. Campaigns for better facilities for cyclists. Contact Spokes, St. Martins Church, 232 Dalry Road, Edinburgh EH11 2JG, tel (answerphone) 0131-313-2114, website at http://www.btinternet.com/~spokes
Lothian Safe Routes. Co-ordinates the work of Safe Routes projects at schools in Lothian and encourages new projects. If you live in Lothian and would like help in setting up a Safe Routes project at your school contact Chris Hill, Lothian Safe Routes, tel: 031-229-0072, email:ch.edinburgh@virgin.net, website: http://freespace.virgin.net/ch.edinburgh/sr2snet/
Sustrans - a charity developing the National Cycle Network and promoting Safe Routes to Schools in the UK. For help in setting up a Safe Routes project at your school contact Sustrans, 0117-926-8893, website: http://www.sustrans.org.uk
 
 
 
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