West Mercia has welcomed the latest batch of 20 ‘mini police officers’ to curb speeding and inconsiderate parking outside schools.
The recruits come in the form of metre-high police officers who stand outside schools warning passing drivers to slow down and not park on the zig-zag markings.
Officers from West Mercia Police’s Safer Neighbourhood Teams will be placing the new signs outside schools in North Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.
The signs have been funded by John Campion, the region’s police and crime commissioner. They follow the initial introduction of 40 signs back in 2019.
He said: “I am committed to making roads safer in West Mercia. The signs I funded in 2019 have been a real success so I wanted to see more of them in West Mercia helping to change driver behaviour.
“This isn’t the final solution, changing long-term driver behaviour is the only way to keep our children safe, but the signs will help in the meantime. I hope that these ‘mini officers’ will remind motorists to be more considerate outside schools.
“All too often people don’t respect the speed limits or think about where they are parking.”
We have had similar advice to Rebecca, about TSRGD.
I sought advice from the manufacturer about using them on the actual road, as the description includes ‘pavement parking’ and I couldn’t find an ‘on the road’ image; I also asked about risk assessments for use on footways (apparently they say you need to maintain 1200mm of footway – some of our footways are not that wide) and seemingly then can also be placed ‘on the road), and public liability insurance (apparently the responsibility of the person who puts them out).
I think I will stick with the ‘illegal obstruction’ and ‘confused messaging’ in line with our engineering and parking services thoughts.
Liz Mapstone, North Somerset
+2
I’d be interested to know where these are placed. We’ve been told that, as they are not approved in TSRGD, if they are placed anywhere on the highway (pavement or road) they represent an illegal obstruction. Genuinely interested to hear how other regions are getting around this and making use of them.
Rebecca James, Bradford
+3