### Concerns Mount Over Safety at School Drop-Off After Car Strikes Child Seat in Caerphilly
Serious concerns have been raised regarding child safety near two primary schools in the Pengam area of Caerphilly county, following an incident in which a moving vehicle collided with a child car seat being carried by a pedestrian. Locals are calling for immediate action, warning that it is inevitable someone will be injured if the current chaotic drop-off conditions persist.
The event took place last week on Commercial Street, a busy road serving both Pengam Primary School and Ysgol Gymraeg Trelyn. According to a resident, traffic congestion during school drop-off and pick-up times has reached worrying levels, with vehicles routinely mounting the pavements and ignoring traffic restrictions. “It’s become normal for parents to park on zig-zag lines, sometimes driving fully onto the pavement while children are walking to or from school,” explained the concerned local, who wished to remain anonymous.
Despite repeated appeals from locals over the dangers posed by careless parking and reckless driving in the area, there appears to have been little improvement. The resident expressed frustration at Caerphilly Council’s response to the issue, suggesting that measures so far have been restricted to distributing reminders to parents—messages which, they claim, “are simply ignored.”
A spokesperson from Caerphilly Council acknowledged the long-standing staffing issue with the school crossings, noting that since March 2022, a vacancy for the position of school crossing guard had only been filled on a single day. Efforts to bolster pedestrian safety have included updates to road signage and markings along Commercial Street, which is already designated as a 20mph zone, in a bid to promote safer driving and discourage obstructive parking.
Additional measures, such as providing green traffic cones intended to dissuade illegal parking, were reportedly offered to Pengam Primary School. However, the council spokesperson indicated that a “lack of resources” at the school had prevented the cones from being deployed. In response to suggestions that a permanent pedestrian crossing might improve child safety, council officials said this had been considered, but a recent assessment did not find the location met the existing criteria for such provision.
Parking enforcement officers do carry out patrols, but with 84 school sites across the borough requiring oversight, resources are stretched thin. The council says it regularly reviews road safety data and notes that there have been no recorded personal injury collisions near these schools over the past decade—a fact that has influenced their decision-making about further interventions.
Gwent Police confirmed that they had received a call at 9:15am on Tuesday, 10 June, following the incident in which a car had struck a child seat being carried by a pedestrian on Commercial Street. Fortunately, nobody was reported injured. Police stated that while enquiries were made at the time, no further investigation is underway.
Local voices, however, are warning against complacency. “We are extremely lucky that no one was hurt in this incident. But unless action is taken, it’s only a matter of time before a child is seriously injured or worse because of the traffic chaos here,” the resident warned. They urged both the council and schools to do more to fulfil their “duty of care” to the hundreds of children attending these neighbouring schools.
The situation highlights the broader challenge faced by communities across Wales—and the UK more widely—to balance safe access for children around schools with the pressures of modern traffic and parking. As things stand in Pengam, the debate between practical resource allocation and proactive accident prevention continues, leaving many in the community anxious for a long-term solution before tragedy strikes.