Parents confused by colourful new road markings which ‘look like Twister’

Parents are unhappy about a series of colourful road markings which have appeared outside their children’s school- and say they look like a playground or ‘Twister’.

Appearing outside two schools in Frome, Somerset, the new markings are designed to slow drivers down and feature circles, triangles and a variety of different designs.

But some mums and dads say they are confusing especially for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

One said: ‘I think they are very confusing and dangerous.

‘None of those shapes are in the Highway Code.

‘It’s like a playground.

‘They feel that they can jump in the spots, my daughter thought it looked like Twister in the road.’

Frome Town Council used a £350,000 grant from the Department for Transport to introduce several new measures, which were designed to make it safer near Oakfield Academy and Critchill School.

Parent Craig Adams has an eight-year-old son attends Critchill School, which teaches children with additional needs.

He told ITV Westcountry: ‘They’re round dots, they mirror a lot of the things in the playground.

‘That can be very difficult for him to understand.’

Frome Town Council says it commissioned company Sustrans to design and carry out the work.

Cllr Anita Collier, from Frome Town Council, said: ‘We desperately want to have that feedback. These things can be changed.

‘Sustrans have actually made changes to their designs throughout the country. We know that that’s possible.’

A spokesperson for Sustrans said: ‘Colourful street markings are a common proposal in school street designs.

‘They alert drivers to the fact that there may be people around the street and, as part of a larger package of traffic calming measures, encourage them to slow down.

‘The street markings around Frome safer school streets were created through a collaborative co-design process with the community including pupils from the local schools. Residents from the local streets helped to choose the designs.’

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