BACK TO SCHOOL

THE start of the school term, and of a new academic year got off to an incident-free start in the Balearics yesterday.
In Palma, Citizen Safety Councillor, Antonio Donaire said that there was the usual build-up of traffic, as there is at the start of each new term, so that parents could drop children at the school gates.

Speaking to the media close to the Son Rapinya roundabout where tailbacks early in the morning are frequent, Donaire said that in the areas where most traffic jams were expected, notably Son Oliva, La Soledad and La Vileta , “there were no problems” over and above those which would be normally caused by the ongoing drainage replacement and other improvement works.

Donaire remarked that part of the reason of the smooth-running of traffic at the start of the new term had been thanks to the fact that a third lane on Palma's ring road had opened yesterday. The new carriageway runs between the Son Rapinya and the Valldemossa exits and according to Donaire, has notably “freed up” the flow of traffic at the Son Rapinya roundabout.

As the week goes by, said Donaire, the start of a new term will become part of daily routine and Palma will return to normality.
He reported that half an hour after school classrooms had opened, scheduled for 9am, traffic was flowing “almost normally” again. Donaire said he had advised parents to stop a little way from the school gates and arrive in stages so that not all vehicles were trying to park by the entrance at once. Where possible he said, parents should take more than one child to school - perhaps the children of relatives or friends living nearby - in order to cut down on the volume of traffic crowding at the gates.

Donaire recommended that the “stop offs” outside the school to let children out should be “as quick as possible” to prevent those waiting to approach becoming impatient and furthering the likelihood of jams.

The Councillor was convinced that following the use of what he described as “common sense” rules and with encouraging children to use public transport wherever possible, the threat of traffic grinding to a halt would become minimised. He added that after a week, the number of vehicles on the roads congregating at school gates would decline by 25 percent.

Maria Luisa Gracia, Transport director at City Hall, explained that the Council had met with the heads of administration at around 20 schools and colleges in Palma and had sent letters to all education centres confirming that for the whole week from the start of the new term, roadworks close to school entrances were banned up until 9.30am. “This will leave all road lanes clear just at the critical time when they are all needed,” said Gracia, who had been supported in her move by the Roads department of the Council of Majorca.

Gracia had given reassurances to teachers and parents that works being carried out by the municipal water and drainage management company (Emaya) at La Vileta and S'Escorxador would be finished by the start of term.