New education program for school streets fixed penalty
West Berkshire are leading the way in trialling a new diversion course for school streets violations. Under the new part 6 powers, West Berkshire applied for civil powers to enforce school streets programmes throughout the borough.
One location has successfully undergone a trial of a school streets programme and are now transitioning to a permanent feature while a second location is beginning it's experimental phase. The existing programme closes the road to any outside traffic (with the exception of permit holders, blue badges and blue light vehicles) in the mornings and afternoons during the school run.
While feedback has been largely positive, the softer measures were proving to be not so effective in achieving compliance. Therefore the new powers now allow enforcement of the TRO through issuing penalty notices. Cameras supplied by Marston Holdings – Videalert, and fitted with ANPR will be used to monitor, record and issue penalty notices. While a useful deterrent, it also provides an opportunity to further educate drivers on the benefits associated with school streets programmes.
West Berkshire have worked with Agilysis to produce an online educational programme for those who have been issued a fixed penalty notice. The learning is incentivised by providing a substantial discount to the fixed penalty notice, if successfully completed.
The course is open to use by the public at any time, in the hopes that it will provide a means of education so that they can avoid putting themselves in a situation where they would receive a PCN.
In the course, users are entered into a virtual town which is filled with 8 different characters that they must interact and speak with to progress. Each character adds a new perspective and benefit from schemes such as school streets.
The course only takes around 30minutes, and there is a short 8 question quiz at the end in which you need to score 6/8 in order to pass and be eligible for the discount.
