Tag: traffic

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NEWS: Erdington Academy students send “courageous” message to local leaders over road safety

Teacher Mollie Duncanson and Erdington Academy students with Erdington Councillors Robert Alden and Gareth Moore, Police Commissioner Simon Foster, Florence Cadge and Cllr Waseem Zaffar of Birmingham Healthy Air Coalition / Pic supplied by Gary Phleps Communications

Students at Erdington Academy have sent a “courageous” message to local leaders about air pollution and road safety at their school – according one of the city’s key spokespeople over transport and clean air.

On Friday, 14 March, pupils from the academy, which is part of Fairfax Multi Academy Trust, welcomed the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Simon Foster and three Birmingham councillors – to show them first-hand the impact of traffic at the school gates on Kingsbury Road.

Attending the school alongside the PCC were Erdington Ward representatives Cllr Gareth Moore (Conservative) and Cllr Robert Alden (Conservative).

Cllr Waseem Zaffar and Florence Cadge of Birmingham Healthy Air Coalition outside the Erdingotn Academy gates / Pic supplied by Gary Phleps Communications

The Erdington councillors were also joined by Cllr Waseem Zarrar (Lozells, Labour) who is part of the Birmingham Healthy Air Coalition – a collective of health, transport and environmental organisations with a focus on combatting air pollution.

Cllr Zaffar was on the Sustainability and Transport Overview & Scrutiny Committee at Birmingham City Council until 2025 and was a key advocate of the city’s recent transport plan – which saw planters and concrete blocks pedestrianise residential roads in local neighbourhoods, and the introduction of the Clean Air Zone charges in Birmingham City Centre.

The visit from the local dignitaries to Erdington Academy was the culmination of six months of extracurricular workshops with the students – as delivered by Birmingham Healthy Air Coalition at the academy.

Year 10 student Brycen Olakunle explained: “I think they listened to us. We hope that the councillors can refer our situation to local engineers to get a pedestrian crossing installed outside the school on the main road.”

They added: “We would also like road markings to be repainted, and improved signage around our school.”

Traffic congestion on Kingsbury Road outside Erdington Acadmy / Pic supplied by Gary Phelps Communication

After working with the students, Cllr Zaffar told: “It’s amazing the way the schoolchildren have come forward and identified a real problem which affects their daily life and have been courageous enough to speak to officials who make those key decisions.

“It’s brilliant to see young people having the confidence to challenge politicians and hold them to account, and also to see the politicians responding.”

Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster also told: “I’m very impressed with the work the children have done and seeing them step up to raise their concerns. They communicated the issues excellently.

“This is an issue we see across the region, and we must ensure we are tackling it. It’s a top priority for West Midlands Police, as outlined in our new plan for 2025, which will soon be published.”

Erdington Academy students students explain to visitors the challenges of road safety and air pollution at the school gates each day / Pic supplied by Gary Phelps Communications

After speaking to the Erdington Academy students, Cllr Gather Moore (Erdington Ward, Conservative) said: “It’s good to see the children are raising the issues that impact them on a daily basis, and it’s very concerning to hear that accidents have happened.

“I look forward to bringing these issues to the council and working with the police and council to do whatever we can to improve road safety and make children feel safe.”

Cllr Robert Alden added: “It’s great to see the passion of the children who want to ensure their journeys to and from school are as safe as possible.”

For more on Erdington Academy visit www.erdingtonacademy.bham.sch.uk

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NEWS: Biker gang blocks up Kingsbury Road – performing dangerous stunts in the traffic

Words, pics & video by Ed King

Hundreds of motorists were stopped from returning home on Friday after scores of bikers blocked up Kingsbury Road, near Tyburn House Island.

At around 6:30pm, a large gathering of motorbikes and quad bikes swarmed across the two lanes of traffic and onto the central reservation – many trying to buy petrol from the Shell garage.

As the gang of bikers grew in number, some began driving up and down the dual carriage way and grass embankment – performing ‘wheelies’ and ‘donuts’, leaving deep tyre marks across the central reservation. One daredevil was seen ‘careering’ into the early evening traffic with one wheel off the ground and both hands in the air.

With around 50 bikers blocking the throughfare, tired motorists could do nothing but sit it out and wait for the chaos to subside.

Jules Cox, 43, told Erdington Local: “I was sitting in the Burger King car park – I had just finished work in Erdington and was on my way to Castle Vale, pulling in to get a drive through and make a phone call.

“Suddenly I heard what sounded like cars on a racetrack, then about 10-15 motorbikes – high cc expensive looking ones – came careering down the Kingsbury Road and pulled up onto the central reservation.

“Within about five minutes there were maybe 40-50 motorbikes and quad bikes, but some were in the Shell garage next door and I couldn’t see the exact number.

“Pretty quickly they had blocked that whole side of the Kingsbury Road and traffic started to back up. The bikers were riding up and down both the road itself and the grass in the middle, doing wheelies and donuts.

“It was more annoying than threatening, but I wouldn’t have suggested challenging them. With that many people being reckless on high performance bikes, with the kind of adrenalin that brings, you never know what will kick off.”

A deliver driver collecting orders from Burger King, who didn’t want to be named, added: “I think they had come from town; there had been a lot of bikes in the city centre earlier waving flags and making noise.

“They didn’t bother me making my deliveries, but it is dangerous. Although I used to live in Italy and you would get hundreds of bikers together there, this is nothing compared to that.”

The Shell garage quickly put a ‘Closed’ sign in the window and waited for the bikers to move on.

Staff from the garage told Erdington Local gangs of bikers come to the garage about once a month, but never in such large numbers – they were worried about people driving off without paying.

Motorbikes are responsible for around 19% of all road traffic fatalities, according to a report by the Department of Transport. Over extended driving, calculating deaths per billion passenger miles, motorcyclists are over 100 times more likely to die in an accident than those in a car.

West Midlands Police had to be extra vigilant during lockdown, with dangerous drivers taking advantage of the empty roads and using them as their own personal racetrack.

Following an arrest earlier this year, where the offender was jailed for 14 months, Traffic Sergeant Mitch Darby, said:

“Anti-social off-road biking is a real concern for our communities. We’ve responded by running operations to catch offenders and they will continue throughout the summer.

“Anyone who rides dangerously – or rides an off-road bike illegally on public roads or in parks – runs the risk of being arrested and having their bike seized and crushed.”

Biker gang ride off from Kingsbury road – finally allowing rush hour traffic to move