The Sunday Times
September 21, 2008
Watch out: there’s a lollipop about
Abul Taher
LOLLIPOP ladies across the country are to be equipped with cameras hidden in their poles after a spate of incidents in which drivers speed past them or beat them up.
The cameras, activated when the pole touches the ground, are pointed at offending cars. The drivers can then be found and punished.
Successful trials have been carried out by at least 10 local authorities ranging from Hillingdon, west London to Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, and Dudley, West Midlands.
David Sparks, transport spokesman for the Local Government Association (LGA), said he expected all councils would buy the poles, which cost about £900 each.
“They are fantastic. They are very effective in stopping motorists and they are also highlighting the problems of renegade drivers who are no longer going to get away with it,” said Sparks.
“Lollipops” have the legal force of a red traffic light and drivers disobeying them face a £1,000 fine or three points on their licence. The LGA estimates that there are 1,400 “lollipop rage” incidents each year, which range from not stopping to assaults.
School crossing patrol officers, as they are officially known, hold their poles upside down at the side of the road and carry them horizontally when walking into position. When they place them upright on the road, motorists are legally required to stop.
At this point, two cameras in the stems of the poles — one pointing each way — are automatically activated.
The cameras, produced by Routesafe, a company based in Woodcote, Oxfordshire, record video and sound. They use memory cards to store data, which can then be downloaded onto councils’ computer systems.
The poles have been welcomed by the school crossing patrol officers who have tried them. Donna Evans, 33, who patrols in Stockport, Greater Manchester, was injured by a motorist who drove past her and swerved into a side lane. He then reversed into her, throwing her 6ft.
“I was left with serious whiplash and could not move my shoulder for weeks,” said Evans. “The new poles are good. They save me from all the hassle of getting pen and paper out and writing down the car number plate, colour of the car and make of vehicle when a car storms past.”
In Nuneaton, Warwickshire county council tested a similar scheme this summer in which cameras were placed on the hats of lollipop ladies. The scheme was hailed a success — no motorist ignored the stop sign.
A spokesman for Routesafe said the idea had come from a Manchester patrol officer who last year decided to stick a camcorder on his lollipop pole to record motorists who failed to stop.
Although he was told to remove the camera by council bosses, because it changed the shape of the lollipop pole, the firm adopted his idea.
