Do we really need tank traps to protect schools from road harm?

If you've ever visited a school during work hours, you'll know how much care goes into preventing unwanted guests from entering the premises. However, protecting kids from road harm is proving to be a much bigger challenge.

Less than a year has passed since the driver of an SUV killed two children, and seriously injured others, after ploughing through a fence and crashing into a school in Wimbledon. Now it's happened again. The driver of a Mercedes SUV this week demolished the wall of a primary school before coming to rest in a classroom. Thankfully the room was empty at the time. Ten minutes later it would have been full of children.

We have become so inured to road harm that neither of these shocking crashes will lead to changes to make our streets safer. In frustration at a lack of action on road harm, we dreamed up a contraption we call a 'catclaw'. When a car or lorry drives over a CatClaw, its weight exposes a sharp steel tube that quickly punctures the tyre. However, it poses no threat to pedestrians - a person standing on top of the device would not be heavy enough to activate it.

Originally conceived to address the problem of pavement parking, is the safety of our children so at risk that we need them lined up around schools?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0moP21omQXc&feature=youtu.be

Pavement protection for people

Clearly there are many reasons why the Catclaw cannot become a commercial product. However, something needs to be done to prevent the illegal pavement parking and driving that risks killing children. Have a look at the photo below. Drivers faced with a blocked road ahead have taken to the pavement - forcing schoolchildren to take shelter in driveways.

A systematic approach to road harm reduction can transform the streets where we work, live and learn for the better - and without having to resort to using a single tank trap or retractable spike.

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