School crossing patrols

In Derbyshire we are proud to have over 100 school crossing patrol sites. Our dedicated and friendly patrols are on duty during term time, whatever the weather.

Patrols are valued members of Derbyshire communities supporting children and their families to cross safely on their journey to and from school.

Knowing that a patrol is there to support you to cross safely can help children and families decide to make the most of their school journey, which can help them keep fit, beat traffic jams and reduce pollution.

Making an active journey, after a healthy breakfast and a good night’s sleep is a great way to improve wellbeing as part of the school day.

If you are a parent / carer or young person and are thinking about making a change to your school journey and want to know where our patrols sites are, please email school.crossingpatrol@derbyshire.gov.uk.

Whilst not every journey to school will have a patrol, our Travel Smart team can help. They provide support to schools to help encourage school communities to travel sustainably and safely.

Keeping everyone safe

Our patrols really appreciate how busy Derbyshire roads can be and kindly ask road users to

• park well away from the site, so the patrol can see clearly in both directions.
• reduce speed and be prepared to stop
• wait until the crossing patrol has returned to pavement before moving off

Patrol signs and what they mean

Patrols use their signs to communicate with road users. Here is a reminder of what each position means:

Sign upside down

When the crossing patrol person holds their sign (or lollipop!) upside down this means they are not ready to take children or other pedestrians across the road.

Sign sideways

When the crossing patrol person holds their sign sideways this is to act as a barrier to stop children crossing until it is safe to do so.

Sign held up high

When the crossing patrol person is ready to cross children they will stand at the side of the road and hold their sign up high. When this happens vehicles must be prepared to stop.

Sign extended out

When the crossing patrol person has their arms and sign outstretched this means all vehicles must stop. You should wait until the crossing patrol person has returned to the pavement before moving off.

It is an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1984 if you do not stop when signalled to do so by a school crossing patrol. Penalties can include:

• a fine up to £1000
• 3 penalty points
• disqualification

If you have any questions about school crossing patrol, please email school.crossingpatrol@derbyshire.gov.uk.