Parents slam confusing colourful road markings outside schools

by · Mail Online

Parents have slammed 'confusing and dangerous' colourful school road markings which they say resemble a playground or 'Twister'.

The new markings made of shapes including triangles, circles and different designs were installed outside two schools in Frome, Somerset.

They were installed by the town council and designed to make it safer near Oakfield Academy and Critchill School.

Frome Town Council used a £350,000 grant from the Department for Transport to introduce several new measures including the installation of markings in school zones.

While the colours and shapes are designed to slow drivers down, some parents say they are confusing especially for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Parents have criticised new colourful road markings installed by a local council outside two schools
Colourful triangular markings at one of the school zone. The shapes are designed to alert drivers to the area, but have been labelled confusing and dangerous by parents
An aerial view of markings near of circles and squiggles drawn onto the road near the school. Parents say the new markings present a specific challenge for children with special educational needs and disabilities

One said: 'I think they are very confusing and dangerous. None of those shapes are in the Highway Code. It's like a playground.

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'They feel that they can jump in the spots, my daughter thought it looked like Twister in the road.'

Father Craig Adams whose eight-year-old son attends Critchill School, which teaches children with additional needs, told ITV Westcountry: 'They're round dots, they mirror a lot of the things in the playground.

'That can be very difficult for him to understand.'

Frome Town Council says it hired company Sustrans to design and carry out the work.

Councillor Anita Collier said: 'We want desperately to have that feedback. These things can be changed.

'Sustrans have actually made changes to their designs throughout the country. We know that that's possible.'

Green and pink triangles installed outside one of the schools in Frome, Somerset
The patterns have been compared by some to a game of Twister or markings one would usually find in a playground

A spokesperson for Sustrans said: 'Colourful street markings are a common proposal in school street designs.

'They alert drivers to the fact that there may be people around the street and, as part of a larger package of traffic calming measures, encourage them to slow down.

'The street markings around Frome safer school streets were created through a collaborative co-design process with the community including pupils from the local schools. Residents from the local streets helped to choose the designs.'

It comes after a similar scheme at a crossroads in the Berkshire village of Finchampstead was labelled by locals as 'deadly'.

Wokingham Borough Council oak leaves at the California Crossroads pedestrian crossing, rather than traditional black and white stripes.