Carmarthenshire Council has launched its annual ‘Stop Means Stop’ campaign, reminding motorists they must stop when signalled by a school crossing patrol (SCP) officer.
Carmarthenshire Council is using the campaign – which launched on Wednesday (30 August) in the lead up to the start of the new school year – to remind drivers that if they fail to stop they could face a £1,000 fine and a minimum of three penalty points on their licence.
Cllr Hazel Evans, executive board member for the environment, said SCPs ‘have a very important role to play in keeping our community safe’.
While SCPs are employed primarily to help children cross the road safely on their way to and from school, they are also allowed to stop traffic for anyone wishing to cross the road so long as they are operating at their approved site and within their authorised hours of duty.
Carmarthenshire Council has also published a series of tips advising motorists how best to help SCPs, including:
- Park well away from them (they need to see and be seen by approaching traffic).
- Always reduce your speed and be prepared to stop
- Obey their instructions when signalled to stop
- Give them time to cross the children safely and return back to the pavement
Cllr Hazel Evans, said: “The message is simple. All road users must stop when a school crossing patrol officer asks them to do so.
“Drivers should allow a little extra journey time if their route takes them through a patrolled area – and be prepared to slow down and stop when requested to do so.”
Category: SCPs.
A SCP story was in this forum very recently and I asked the question then: whatever happened to the STOP signs with the motion activated camera in them which were meant to catch offenders? They were trialed in North Wales a few years ago, but don’t know how successful they were.
Hugh Jones, Cheshire
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Spot on, Gill. You may know the penalty for failing to comply with a red traffic light is 3 penalty points and a fine. For a fixed penalty the fine is £100, however, if the case goes to court the fine is means tested and is a maximum £1000. HMG could rake in a tidy little sum from these penalties. Many move forward over the line before the green.
Nigel ALBRIGHT
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A good idea. However could some authority put forward some form of information or intervention regarding the law when it come to stopping at traffic lights. Many drivers believe that they must stop on red so when the red light is shown then they must stop and this is not only the case. The law requires a driver to stop at the stop line when the amber light is shown turning from green. That is when one must stop and not just when the red light is shown. As that light is on for a period of three seconds there will be plenty of time to stop and one can only proceed if already past the stop line or when to stop would cause an accident. With tailgating being so prevelent that could be a justification.
We know that people know about running a red light but it’s dangerous and against the law to run an amber light also. Whatever happened to cameras sited at traffic lights, they don’t seem to exist or work anymore.
gill craven
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