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World Fatalities 340K+ USA Fatalities 100K+
Victorian students in Prep, Grade 2, Year 11 and Year 12 return to school today. Students in Grade 3 through to Year 10 will continue to learn from home for the time being, then return to school on Tuesday 9 June.
We live close to a primary school, and for the past few months we’ve had respite from the traffic problems and congestion caused by parents parking illegally in our street and around the school for drop offs and pick-ups.
When all the children return to school in a couple of weeks, parents have been advised to ensure they are social distancing from one another, but knowing what it’s like around here on a normal school day, I’m not holding my breath.
A few years ago, I lobbied our local council to create a car park in an open space near the school to provide more parking and stop parents all trying to park their cars on the street outside the main entrance to the school. To my surprise, the council actually funded and built the new car park. But getting parents to use it is quite another thing. The new car park area is much safer to use than the current arrangement and it’s quicker because parents can avoid the traffic congestion by parking there. But people are creatures of habit, and habits are hard to change, especially the habits of helicopter parents. It will be interesting to see what arrangements, if any, the school puts in place to manage the flow of traffic and maintaining safe distances when all the students return.