Pupils '˜at risk' due tobus shelter location

Concerns have been raised about the safety of a local bus shelter regularly used by school children.
The bus shelter on the Aughnacloy Road.The bus shelter on the Aughnacloy Road.
The bus shelter on the Aughnacloy Road.

A reader contacted the Banbridge Leader to express his concerns about the positioning of the bus shelter on the Aughnacloy Road near the junction with the Circular Road.

Mr Peter McEvoy wrote in saying that the shelter should never have been erected “a few hundred yards from the junction on a bend, where neither bus nor cars dropping off or picking up school children can stop safely.”

He added that as a result children have to be dropped off at the Poland Bridge junction and walk to the bus stop, which is dangerous on dark mornings and evenings.

Local Ulster Unionist MLA Jo-Anne Dobson told the Leader that she has raised questions on a number of occasions with the Education Minister and Education Authority around the safety aspects of bus shelters.

Commenting Mrs Dobson said: “I have had a number of queries raised with me by parents around the appropriateness of the location of bus shelters and indeed bus pick up points where no shelters exist at all.

“Their concerns centre around the health and safety assessments conducted by the Education Authority when it comes to young children waiting at the side of a busy road in the early mornings or when being dropped off from school.

“I have written to the Education Minister around the measures taken to review the safety of young children when new bus shelters are established or existing shelters updated.

“It concerns me that the local knowledge of parents and indeed bus drivers are not being taken on board by the authorities - information which would be invaluable to improving the safety of everyone on our roads.