Nivine: We are worried about the traffic in our local area.
Tom:
Hammersmith and Fulham.
Nivine: So we have decided to some research to see what changes can be
made to make a healthier and safer environment for us to live in.
Tom:
First we went out and took some pictures of what we thought was good,
bad and ugly.
Nivine: For example, one of the pictures was of a small robin: this was
classified as good;
Tom:
And there was a pile of broken bricks, with sharp edges: this was bad.
Nivine: Also there were pieces of broken glasses: this was, of course,
ugly!
Tom:
When we came back to school, the year six class thought about the main
problem there was on the streets around them. Two main concerns came up
….. these were graffiti and traffic flow!!
Nivine: 75% of the class agreed that congestion of traffic was the main
problem, so we went out and did further investigation.
Tom:
We carried out a traffic count survey. We did this for 10 minutes. In
total 75 vehicles passed on the road. Outstandingly, 63 of the 75 were
cars, and 4 were buses and only 3 were bikes. This showed us that we seriously
needed to consider ways of reducing the level of cars used on the road
and replace the cars with either bicycles, public transport or walkers!!
Nivine: We have also carried out a car passenger survey, which meant counting
people inside their cars. The survey showed that out of the 40 cars that
passed in 10 minutes, 30 of them only had 1 passenger inside; the other
ten only had 1 other passenger inside. These findings also highlighted
another area of concern. If people were going to use cars, then we need
to encourage drivers to share cars whenever possible.
Tom:
We then went and interviewed a pedestrian coming from a bus stop. To do
this we used a questionnaire; he told us that he was very concerned about
the noise of the traffic and it effecting local flats.
Nivine: We interviewed around 220 other people in total and they all agreed
that the traffic flow was a main worry …. Especially for younger
children and elderly people.
Tom:
We had a discussion at school and we thought that if people used more
public transport, the noise level would reduce by a quarter. This was
shocking.
Nivine: We interviewed the children and staff at Avonmore Primary School
and they all definitely agreed more people should walk or cycle to and
from school! Even the teachers agreed!! As a school, we realised that
with less cars on the road, we would all be living in a safer environment.
It was now time to get SERIOUS about traffic issues!!!!
Tom:
So we went to the Urban Studies Centre in Hammersmith and asked the experts
their views on traffic. We gained a lot of very useful information from
these guys, but have summarised it for you today. If you would like to
know more, please feel free to ask us at the end of the presentation today.
Nivine: Alex Forrest (transport planner) said we should have more lollipop
ladies and less roundabouts.
Tom:
Both Paul Baker and John Repsh anted more bike and bus lanes.
Nivine: John Repsh (friends of the earth) also said we need to show what
harmful effects pollution can do to us.
Tom:
John Ryan H&F la21 air quality wants more buses to encourage more
people to travel on them.
Nivine: Okay…. So what have we done to date? We have organised a
parents meetings to present our work and findings to the parents and carers
of Avonmore. We have already presented our work to the rest of our school
in an assembly, and have undertaken a survey of the whole school.
Tom:
We are helping Alex Forrest, H&F Transport Planner with his leaflets.
He has asked us to design pictures that will encourage people to walk,
or cycle, rather than using cars!! We feel that this is an important contribution,
as the leaflet and pictures help explain to people the importance of walking
for your health. We know we can do it …. We just want others to join
us in our project and beliefs!
Nivine: We have also made posters to go up around our school to encourage
children to walk to and from school. The posters highlight the benefits
of walking … lets face it, we all need to keep fit!!
Tom:
We are taking part in Hammersmith and Fulham “Don’t choke”
campaign by having a sponsored walk to school week. We will be asking
Steve Beverley – the Council’s Travel Plan Co-ordinator to help
us organise this. We would like to ask you, please raise your hand if
you walk or cycle to work or school currently. Please be honest. (Thank
you).
Nivine: We will let you know by e mail, when our walk to school week will
be. We hope that you will all join us, for one day, if not more, that
week!!! We want to see Walkers About The Streets Not Drivers!!!!!!
Tom:
From what we have said to you today, we hope, we have convinced you to
help us make a healthier and safer environment by walking or cycling.
Please try your best … we know our teachers at school will. We just
have to now convince other members of the public.
Together: We have all in year 6 thoroughly enjoyed working on the project.
We must stress to you today, that this is the beginning. We have a long
way to GO!!! Thank you for your interest and for coming this morning to
listen our presentation!
Assessing the local traffic problem
and
putting our views to the Councillors
