Council chiefs looking at road safety measures after incident near Edinburgh school

The incident happened in September last year, near the junction of Comiston Road and Morningside Drive, as the boy was on his way to South Morningside Primary School.

His mother petitioned the council’s transport and environment committee in December, calling for immediate safety measures to stop a child being killed. Nadia Cunden, who has two children at the school, said many parents were frightened every day when they took children to school.

South Morningside Primary School

She claimed the daily journey to school was unsafe, with signs hidden by bushes, bins blocking drivers' and pedestrians' view and a shortage of lollipop patrols.

A site visit involving officials and ward councillors was held last month and an update to the committee sets out a number of observations.

“The crossing patrol guide’s visibility is obscured by buses waiting at the stop on Comiston Road. The bus shelter at Braidburn is obstructing the footway. The location of this bus stop also obscures visibility of traffic signals.

“Signage located in front of a set of traffic signals is obscuring visibility. A green lamp is not operating at one set of signals, a 20mph sign is obscured by a bus stop and the signpost is loose. A school warning sign is misaligned.

“Suggestions include a zebra crossing at Comiston Drive/Road, continuous footways at Greenbank Avenue and Comiston Gardens, and buildouts for Greenbank Drive and Crescent.

“Some footways are narrow or uneven. The yellow box junction markings are faded, and road markings overall require to be refreshed.

“Residential parking around Craiglea Drive should be reviewed with consideration given for installing red lines.

“Overhanging vegetation is obscuring signage at one location. Hedge encroachment is reducing footway width on Comiston Road. A bin hub is causing an obstruction and impeding pedestrian access on footway.”

And the update concludes: “Officers from the Road Safety team will liaise with colleagues to consider these observations as part of the School Travel Audit process.”

The update also notes that as part of the council’s approved Road Safety Delivery Plan, new “pedestrian facilities” are already planned at the junctions of Morningside Drive and Comiston Road, and Craiglea Drive and Comiston Road this financial year.

Committee convener Stephen Jenkinson said: “It is important when there has been any incident involving children near school, or on their way to school or their way home, that the road safety team do a thorough investigation and then liaise with the school community to see what steps can be put in place to see that it doesn’t happen again.

“I’m really pleased that members of the committee, officers and the school community have got together to discuss this. A lot of issues have been highlighted and I’m sure the discussions and recommendations made as part of those sessions will be considered carefully by officers as they develop school road safety initiatives, not only in South Morningside but across the city.”