Students at Our Lady of Consolation National School in Donnycarney, held a protest action at the Collins Avenue East/Malahide Road junction this morning to draw attention to dangerous driving behaviour in the area and to demand safer conditions for students walking and cycling to school.
The action was organised by the Green-Schools committee at the school after conducting a “walkability audit” of their area as part of their work on the Green-Schools Travel flag.
During the audit, students observed hazardous behaviour by drivers at this junction, including frequently breaking red lights, as well as stopping on and blocking pedestrian crossings.
A significant amount of the 330 students in the school walk to school each morning and would be negatively impacted by this type of behaviour.
The students decided to stage a protest to make motorists in the area aware of the impact that unsafe driving can have on student pedestrian safety and feeling safe enough to walk to school.
The protest featured signs and slogans created by the students, with chants encouraging drivers to “Obey traffic lights!”, “Don’t rush, avoid the crush!”, and “Don’t drive fast when going past!”.
The school hopes that by creating awareness and having a visible presence at the junction via this student protest, drivers and road users will be prompted to take extra care to adhere to traffic lights at the junction, especially due to its proximity to the school and the presence of children and parents using the junction to cross the road in the mornings.
Principal Aoife Ní Bhreacháin stated that “When undertaking the Green-Schools Travel audit the children noted that there were many cars breaking the lights, speeding on amber and generally driving dangerously in the area at times when the children were trying to get to and from school.
“They decided to carry out a protest on the junction to remind drivers of the importance of driving safely.
“Walking to school is not only good for children from an exercise point of view, but they also get to spend time with their friends and help the environment and traffic
management by reducing the number of cars on the road in the mornings.
“We hope that the drivers who saw the children today will think twice as they travel in the area.”