School children compromised on roads

Once again school children are being compromised on our roads, leading to injuries that they may not survive. It’s easy to blame these children, but their brains are still developing and due to their age, are unlikely to be aware of all the dangers they face on our roads. Yet we as parents brazenly send them out on their way, heading for the safety of their school and we rarely give much thought to the dangers they face. The fact remains that if a child is hit by a car travelling just 50km/h the outcome is likely to be fatal and as speeds reduce the likelihood of survival increases.

These children go on foot or cycle or catch a bus. On our roads all this can be dicing with death. They have to cross roads, even though they are often not yet able to read speeds, are natural risk takers and can easily be distracted. As they cycle they are often not given enough space by drivers. When they cross the road to catch the bus, especially on rural roads, they are likely to be hit by a car, as many drivers seem unaware of the 20km/h rule and most school buses are indistinguishable from ordinary buses.

So what to do? To start with we need a National Speed Limit outside schools of 40km/h or less. There are many rural roads with 70km/h to open road speed limits at their gate and this is totally unacceptable. These speed limits are likely to have been put in place when there weren’t as many cars on the road, but these days even rural routes can be very busy. The World Health Organisation recommends 30km/h maximum, yet our “civilised” country continues with these ridiculous speeds. Selwyn District Council is trialling a 40km/h sign outside their rural schools, which recommends the speed when children are present. Perhaps this is a good prototype?!

Bringing in a new law that reduces speed outside schools is of course up to the Government. This should not be difficult to do. Signage has improved outside most schools, so this expense can be saved, although there may well be some other safety measures that will need to be implemented. Most roads will need a gradual reduction to the speed limit, but this should be cheap in comparison to what it costs trying to save a young life. So I call on the Minister of Transport, Steven Joyce to make this call and introduce a National School Speed Limit.

School buses are still a huge concern and these need to be fitted with a flashing “school” sign. Once again the cost can be compared to the cost of the life of a child. Children are dying on our roads, yet the cost is often raised, but if there are enough safety measures then these accidents and deaths may well be avoided saving the Health Sector much unnecessary cost.

If drivers are aware of a safe speed near children, then they are more likely to heed it in other situations when children are present. At the moment though children on our roads are obviously not important enough to be recognised and this reflects in driver behaviour. We need the Transport Minister, Steven Joyce to put in place a National School Speed Limit to make history and protect our children.

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