Hazard Primary School gets safer environment

MAY PEN, Clarendon:

Students of Hazard Primary School in Clarendon can now learn in a safer environment with the completion of infrastructural development under the X Marks the Spot Crosswalk Road Safety Campaign.

The campaign is a collaborative effort of the JN Foundation, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile Foundation in France, and the Spain-based Abertis Foundation.

Under the campaign, the school benefited from the erection of signage for bus lay-bys, the installation of pedestrian gates, and the widening and paving of the sidewalks.

Onyka Barrett Scott, general manager of the JN Foundation, said, “We started this initiative in 2018, and we now have a bus lay-by so children can get off the road and get off safely. We also improved the pavement area, and we have done some landscaping.”

PROXIMITY OF SCHOOLS

She said that the proximity of schools to roads is one determinant in selecting the institutions for the campaign, adding that Hazard Primary School was chosen because of its close proximity to the busy thoroughfare.

She noted that the campaign carries out an assessment of the roadways near targeted schools to ascertain what specific areas need to be improved upon or developed. “We check the speed at which the vehicles are going, how many people we have walking in the area, what is the speed average which motorists are driving, etc.”

Dr Sonia Thomas, vice-principal of Hazard Primary School, said that the developments under the X Marks the Spot campaign have allowed for “peace of mind” and that teachers and parents are confident that the students are being taught in a safer learning environment. She said, “We no longer have to be here listening for vehicles screeching. We feel safe, the parents, too.” Thomas added that the institution has recorded a significant increase in enrolment.

Hazard Primary School is the first of 18 institutions to benefit from the X Marks the Spot Crosswalk Road Safety Campaign.