Improvements to footpaths, pedestrian and school crossings and additional crossing supervisors topped the list of suggestions that would make walking or riding to schools in the Wollongong electorate better according to parents, carers, students and school staff.
Nearly 300 responses to the Wollongong electorate School Safety Survey were received during Term 1 and the resounding message was that improvements to crossings and crossing supervisors (28 per cent), footpaths (10 per cent), and better driver behaviour around schools (11 per cent) would help get local school kids out of cars and either walking or riding to school.
Releasing the survey results on International Bicycle Day, Member for Wollongong, Paul Scully, thanked survey respondents for their suggestions and said that there was a clear desire to improve the journey to and from local schools.
“Parents and carers said that they drive their children to school because they thought walking or riding was not safe enough”, Mr Scully said.
“I am pleased with the survey response and the suggestions for improvements and will provide relevant responses to it to Wollongong City Council, Transport for NSW, the Department of Education and local Police.
Mr Scully said that the recent COVID pandemic has seen more bike riding and walking throughout Wollongong and with a bit of support this could translate into greater numbers of students walking or riding to and from school.
“As we head into the UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong in 2022 the level of interest in bike riding will get another boost and as a city we should embrace and support that with appropriate infrastructure, including around schools”, he said.
“There is a great deal of pressure on budgets at all levels of government at the moment but I want to work with agencies to develop improvement plans so that we can seize funding opportunities as they arise”, he said.
Mr Scully said that the need for more crossing supervisors was an issue frequently raised for local schools.
“The Berejiklian Government has promised 300 new school crossing supervisors throughout NSW and we need our fair share in Wollongong”, he said.
The full report for the Wollongong School Safety Survey is available here.
