RIDGEWAY Secondary School is set for a new zebra crossing just in time for the start of the new term in September.
The work on the zebra crossing on Evesham Road is scheduled to start on August 15 to make it easier and safer for students crossing the road to and from the school.
The school has been campaigning for the zebra crossing for many years and the process was accelerated in January when Ridgeway student Christopher Bailey was hit by a car.
He didn’t sustain any major injuries but this prompted an extra push, with Council highways engineers then coming to the area to do speed and safety monitoring and agreeing that the zebra crossing should go ahead.
Parents drop their children off in a safe area on the opposite side of the road to the school, but the lack of a pathway connecting it to the roads led to the decision to install one that will lead students straight to the zebra crossing.
Work on this pathway will also be starting on August 15.
Redditch South Coun Craig Warhurst said: “I’m ecstatic that this has been completed as me and Councillor Mike Rouse made this a priority over a year ago.
“It’s tough getting a zebra crossing in and sadly quite often there has to be a serious accident for that to happen.
“It’s clear that there could be a bad accident coming in this area so it’s great that this will be put in place.”
Ridgeway headteacher Matt Ball added: “Every time I’m out here on duty in the mornings there has always been that fear of what might happen so I’m over the moon as this zebra crossing will allow us to better keep our students safe.”
“No member of staff wants to hear that one of their students has been knocked down on the road, it’s a shame that had to happen for action to be taken but it’s fantastic that we can now better prevent future incidents.”
