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Lollipop ladies/men/people - delete as appropriate - celebrate their 60th anniversary this year. But government cuts could spell the end for this road safety service.
School crossing patrols (SCPs), as they are officially known, are a familiar and friendly sight on our streets and have been for 60 years.
The idea for the service came about in the late 1940s.
This was thanks to Jock Brining and Dorothy Pummell, two of the newly created road safety officers in the Dagenham and Barking areas of London.
They recognised a growing problem with the safety of child pedestrians given the increasing volume of traffic on the roads.
At that time, around 90 per cent of children walked to school unaccompanied.
Brining and Pummell had the idea of recruiting "active retired gentlemen" as "traffic wardens" to help children cross the road at places where the traffic was at its busiest.
The idea proved very popular and originally the police ran the service, but in 2000 it was transferred to local authorities.
The School Crossing Patrol Act of 1953 made SCPs the only people apart from the police with the power to stop traffic.
In fact, did you know that disobeying the lollipop stop sign can mean three points on your licence and a fine of up to £1,000?
In 2001 they were authorised to help adults as well as children crossing the road.
Currently there are about 20,000 lollipop people in the UK, mostly mothers and retired people who earn between £2,000 and £4,000 a year.
However, because the service is a discretionary one as opposed to a being a statutory requirement, school crossing patrols have been facing cuts by cash-strapped councils.
Richard Hall, road safety officer for Lincolnshire, is planning a survey to look at the current situation.
"Anecdotally, the vast majority of SCP services still exist, but have faced varying degrees of funding cuts," he says.
"This has generally resulted in patrols no longer working on light-controlled crossings and any remaining lunch-time duties being taken off.
"Some councils, such as Northamptonshire have cut the service almost entirely.
"And some schools are being urged to find other ways of funding and running the service, such as sponsorship or use of volunteers."
Another challenge for SCPs is aggression from impatient drivers.
While the majority of drivers obey the sign, the Local Government Association estimates that there are 1,400 "lollipop rage" incidents every year.
These incidents include driving around the patrol when there are people still on the crossing, revving engines, sounding horns and shouting and swearing.
In response to this some councils, including Dudley in the West Midalnds and Kirklees in West Yorkshire, have introduced CCTV cameras in lollipop poles to record the actions and registration plates of dangerous drivers.
Meanwhile, councils in Essex and Manchester have run "Stop Means Stop" campaigns, to ensure motorists realise they have a legal responsibility to halt at the crossings.
The aim is also to remind motorists that by ignoring the lollipop person they are putting children's lives at risk.
Cuts to school crossing patrol services come at a time when parents are increasingly encouraged to let children to walk to school in order to reduce traffic congestion and counter childhood obesity.
So the decreasing availability of a responsible adult to help children cross busy roads does seem counter-productive.
"School crossing patrols are an essential part of many children's journey to school, and should remain supported," says Hall.
What are your lollipop patrol memories? Do you think there is still a need for this service?
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