© Marc Hoscheid
Members of the International School Michel Lucius Primary parents association have taken their children's safety into their own hands, introducing a traffic safety initiative following incidents of dangerous driving around the school's premises in Limpertsberg.
The association says that due to a lack of action by other authorities, it will be organising its own safety protocols, with members acting as traffic monitors on surrounding roads, equipped with high-vis vests. They will aim to draw awareness to problematic driving behaviours around the school with the initiative, which launched on 21 May.
Around 500 pupils attend the primary school at the Michel Lucius campus, on Avenue Joseph Sax in Limpertsberg, every day. But the area is home to many other schools, leading to a large amount of traffic, including school buses and parents dropping their children off in the morning. The parents association says this often creates dangerous situations for pupils walking around the area, and hope their initiative will bring attention to their plight.
In a press release, the parents association wrote:
"We have urgently and repeatedly sought intervention from relevant ministries, and local authorities to address the perilous traffic conditions around our school. Regrettably, our grave concerns have been met with inadequate action. [...] Our school community feels utterly abandoned. Thus, we are compelled to take decisive action to safeguard our children and community. We call on all parents to join us in this critical effort."
On Tuesday morning, selected members of the association positioned themselves at zebra crossings and other key spots along the road, with safety vests and umbrellas to make themselves more visible. When groups of children and parents, or individuals, approached them, the representatives helped to accompany the pupils safely across the road. The action garnered positive feedback from school parents, who said the usual morning traffic presented a significant risk to their children. This point was emphasised by spokespeople for the parents association on Tuesday:
"It's so difficult in the morning because of the high number of cars stopping here to drop children off. It often blocks traffic, upsetting other motorists who might be commuting to work, and they lack the patience to let the children through safely."
"It's hard to manage the number of pedestrians and the traffic at the same time, usually over a 15 or 20 minute period. There are more than ten places to cross the road in an area of around 50 square metres or so, which increases the risk of accidents."
Another concerned parent reached out to RTL Today to share their personal experience of the issue:
"My children and I were nearly run over outside the school gate while crossing on the zebra crossing. Days later another parent had her car crashed into metres from the same place. The police were fantastic in reprimanding the drivers, but unable to provide a long-term response to the wider problem."
"To illustrate the broader problem, even today while the parents volunteered to help with crossings, I observed drivers not wanting to obey and dangerously trying to push past the crossings."
The association has previously reached out to the local council, the Ministry of Education, and other administrative bodies for advice and support, but have either been shunted from one department to the other, or been ignored entirely. But what is the association asking for, exactly?
"I'm no traffic warden or urban developer," said one parent, "but I am sure there are other options to manage the volume of traffic and to make it easier for pedestrians, who are extremely vulnerable in this situation.
"We would really appreciate having more traffic monitors to supervise the children crossing the road in the mornings."
At other schools in the area, there are municipal workers who help to direct traffic and ensure that children cross the road safely. Over the next fortnight, the Michel Lucius parents association hopes their initiative will push the relevant authorities to take action.
This is not the first time that traffic conditions have been highlighted as a problem in the Limpertsberg school area. In 2023, local residents demanded official action be taken due to the high number of speeding drivers in the 30 km/h zone, while others deplored the inadequate urban planning which had led to the neighbourhood's repeated traffic issues.
