How to gear up for back-to-school chaos

The anticipated chaos and mayhem set to hit Gauteng roads as the holiday season ends and schools reopen can be eased with simple strategies, and a large amount of patience.

As the new school year starts, parents are warned to expect difficulties on day one that will ease as traffic patterns smooth, lift clubs are established, extra mural activities before and after school begin and new routines become established.

“But to begin with, it’s a nightmare. Load-shedding schedules are unpredictable and can change at the last minute so it is impossible to plot the peak hour traffic flow in advance,” said Esther Schmidt, operations manager for traffic engineering at the Johannesburg Roads Agency.

Motorists heading to schools and work on Wednesday — particularly with those starting primary school and high school for the first time — are advised to plan for chaos, leave extra early and wait at least a week before altering their schedules or expecting an improvement in traffic patterns.

“Our engineers will be out on site tomorrow, particularly at new schools opening for the first time. They will be able to respond to issues and come up with solutions,” Schmidt told TimesLIVE on Tuesday.

Asked for a breakdown of the anticipated traffic snarl-ups and recommended alternative routes, Schmidt said this was not possible due to the unpredictable nature of load-shedding stages, and the fact that the start of the school year was a once-a-year event that tended to ease within a few days as lift clubs are established, scholar transport is sorted, scholar patrols are set up and school partnerships with Outsurance pointsmen are settled.

“To start we recommend parents of children starting at a new school do a dry run or two before the time and do homework on the best route to take. Then leave at least half an hour earlier, especially on the first day. If you leave on time or a bit late you risk not being on time,” Schmidt said.

“Respect other drivers and exercise a lot of patience. We want to urge people to drop their children at proper drop-off zones rather than getting impatient and dropping them on the side of the road, a location that is not safe.”

She said the start of school draws record amounts of traffic that generally ease and spread out over coming days, both in the morning and afternoon peak times.

“It’s overwhelming for many people in the beginning and you feel like you will never be on time ever again.”

Take heart, this will change as routines set in.

TimesLIVE

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