Ranger patrols of parking areas throughout February resulted in 85 warnings to drivers outside Port Stephens schools.
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In the back to school period the campaign targeted 17 schools with an emphasis on driver education rather than fines.
The program has delivered results but those who continue to flout the rules “will receive fines”.
“The follow up continues with enforcement visits at the schools over the remainder of the school year,” Port Stephens Council rangers and compliance team leader Luke Kearney said.
“For the past five years, the school zone safety program has more than halved the number of offences being detected in school zones.”
The education phase was conducted in conjunction with the council's Road Safety Officers and it complements the RMS and Port Stephens police education campaigns for road safety around schools.
Rangers spoke to parents and guardians in the drop off areas and handed out information leaflets to encourage safe parking around the schools.
Now that the rangers have started the enforcement phase drivers can expect to see more patrols and infringement notices – especially those who endanger other people by failing to abide by the road rules.
“The state government released a mandate some years ago for all councils to issue fines in school zones resulting from a spate of children getting injured and killed from parked cars making school zones dangerous,” Mr Kearney said.
He said the excuses were often quite lame.
“A common one we get is ‘oh come on, it’s raining’,” Mr Kearney said.
“Maybe they don’t realise, the roads are actually much more dangerous in rainy conditions with more instances of accidents, and this amplifies the need to park safely.”
Mr Kearney said the education campaign was a great example of co-operation.
“Our Road Safety Officer speaks with the school principals, and organises the school newsletters, posters and flyers,” he said.
“At the same time our rangers conduct high visibility patrols talking to and warning drivers and distributing the flyers to parents.”