Leicestershire County Council enforces school parking scheme with transport technology

The requirement

Back in September 2018, a trial was launched across the county called the School Keep Clear Project, aiming to combat the issue that parents, residents and teachers experienced with inconsiderate parking outside schools during the school run.

Parking outside schools can be dangerous due to increasing traffic congestion as well as inconsiderately parked vehicles which can make crossing roads more difficult. This can have a negative impact on the safety, health and wellbeing of children, as well as their parents, teachers and communities. As a result, Leicestershire County Council decided to tackle this issue head on with the help of the CCS Traffic Management Technology 2 agreement.

The solution

To implement the trial, traffic regulation orders were put in place through upgrading the existing advisory school keep clear markings, with mandatory signs and lines to ensure that the new mandatory zig-zag zones were enforceable.

Enforcement officers aimed to continue with their normal duties, while a patrol vehicle with a camera was used to enforce the mandatory zig-zag zones outside school entrances.

To enable the vehicle to do this, Leicestershire County Council purchased in-car automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) using the Traffic Management Technology 2  agreement, allowing officers to collect the necessary evidence to enable fines to be issued via post to drivers who parked on the zig-zag markings.

The results

Councillor Blake Pain, cabinet member for environment and transport, said:

“The trial isn’t about catching and fining motorists – we want people to stop parking inconsiderately near schools as it endangers the lives of pedestrians and causes a great deal of concern for schools and parents.

“We work closely with schools and colleges to improve issues around on-street parking which also involves providing help and guidance on school travel plans to help tackle the problem where necessary.”

Since it launched in September 2018, the scheme has seen 154 schools sign up.

For further information

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We have started looking at Traffic Management Technology 2’s replacement. To find out more about this, please take a look at: Smart Cities – Transport Technology Infrastructure.