Keeping children safe around schools

Randwick City Council, in collaboration with Transport for NSW, is continuously working on safety campaigns and innovations to improve school zone safety.

Speed, illegal parking, and congestion all impact on the safety of children in our school zones, and it is everyone’s responsibility to keep children safe whether they walk, ride, take the bus or drive to school each day.

Safety around schools

Children are small, hard to see and behave unpredictably, so we need to take extra care around schools. You can make our roads safer by observing speed limits and parking signs at all times.

We have developed an easy-to-read guide on how to drive and park safely and legally around school zones: Safety Around Schools – A Randwick City Council road safety initiative PDF, 425.51 KB.

The Transport for NSW website also offers practical advice for schools and parents to help keep children safe when dropping off and picking up at school. The Transport for NSW guide to keeping kids safe around schools can be downloaded here.

Walking to school is the safest, healthiest and cheapest way to get to school. When you walk to school you are reducing congestion around schools, role modelling safe behaviour for your children and keeping active. You are also removing the added stress of finding somewhere to park!

Throughout 2021 and 2022, Council will be upgrading 29 pedestrian crossings near local schools to improve pedestrian safety. The upgrades are being funded by the Federal Stimulus Road Safety Program School Zones project. Click here for more information on the school pedestrian crossing upgrades.

What are the speed limits around schools?

A speed limit of 40km/h applies around every school in Randwick City. This applies during school days from 8am to 9.30am in the morning and from 2.30pm to 4pm in the afternoon, but you should drive carefully at all times. Please remember to reduce your speed by at least 10km/h in bad weather.

Did you know? A pedestrian has an 87% chance of survival when hit at 40km/h or less, but this drops to less than 7% when the impact speed is 70km/h or more.

To see gazetted school dates and terms please visit the NSW Board of Studies website.

We need to keep children safe in traffic

Kids are not ready to be left unsupervised in the road environment until they are at least 10 years old because:

• They don’t understand the dangers and risks involved
• Children are unpredictable and difficult for drivers to see
• Kids cannot judge the speed or distance of oncoming cars.

Remember to role model safe behaviour when you are supervising children around traffic. Don’t step onto the road between parked cars. Hold their hand whenever you cross the road and talk to you children about safe behaviour, on or near the road.

Reminders for driving safely around schools

Here are a few handy reminders for driving safely around schools:

• Always drive at or below 40km/h in a school zone
• It is illegal and unsafe to use hand held mobile phones while driving
• Leave a 3 second gap between your car and the car in front. This gives you time to react if something unexpected happens.

Double parking around schools

Double parking is illegal and dangerous as it reduces visibility and blocks the road for other drivers.

We understand it is a busy time and there is limited parking but we encourage you to be patient and take care. Please use the supervised kiss and go zones to help with school pick up and drop off or park your car a few streets from the school and walk to collect your children.

No Parking in Kiss and Go zones

No Parking restrictions are used in Kiss and Go zones. No Parking allows you to stop for a maximum of 2 minutes to pick up passengers or goods. No Parking restriction commences from when you stop the vehicle. The current penalty for stopping longer than 2 minutes in a No Parking school zone is $196 and 2 demerit points.

Please don’t wait in the zone for longer than two minutes. It is better to arrive to collect your children after the school zone has begun operating to reduce the risk of being booked and to limit the time queueing.

No Parking means No Parking corflute posters

Randwick City Council has A3 corflute posters available for schools to post on fences to remind parents of the rules associated with No Parking zones. Please contact council’s Community Road Safety Officer if you would like these resources.

School buses and school bus zones

Parking in bus zones puts lives at risk. Keep in mind there is also a 40km/h speed limit for traffic passing a school bus that is picking up or setting down school children.

Penalties for offences in school zones

There are penalties for breaking the road rules in school zones, which includes licence demerit points and fines. These fines have been set by Transport for NSW and are there to help make the roads safer for your children.