School calling for change of signs

Waitati School Principal Stacey Honeywill and pupils Pawa Taming ( left) and Lawrence Casey (both...
Waitati School Principal Stacey Honeywill and pupils Pawa Taming ( left) and Lawrence Casey (both 11) stand on Mt Cargill Rd which they say is very hazardous for children to cross before and after school. PHOTO: ELLA STOKES

Waitati School is calling for its school signs to be improved before someone gets hurt.

The school on Mount Cargill Rd is in a 50kmh zone but is situated in the middle of two blind corners.

Principal Stacey Honeywill said people often sped on the road and, if they were not local, they would not even know the school was there.

"People come zooming around the corner and are often going much faster than 50kmh.''

Before and after school, pupils operated a road crossing that was always supervised by an adult.

Mrs Honeywill said because the corners were blind there was often not enough time for children to see or hear approaching traffic.

" We really don't want to see someone get hurt or, even worse, get run over,'' she said.

Mrs Honeywill is getting more concerned about the road as the school roll continues to rise.

About 12 months ago, the school had a roll of 62 pupils. Its roll is now 70 and, by the end of the year, she expected it to be 80.

She had been talking to the Dunedin City Council for about a year and would like to see an active school sign, which flashed when people approached it, installed sooner rather than later.

DCC transportation team leader Hjarne Poulsen said there was not one rule that applied to every school when it came to what signs it should have.

Because Waitati School was in a 50kmh zone already, it did not require an active school sign to slow people down to 40kmh, he said. Mr Poulsen said installing one of those signs would require a change of bylaw, due to a change in speed limit, and that was a lengthy process.

"We work with every layout to get it to work the best, like every school in Dunedin ... you need to be careful how you use signs so they are effective.''

Mr Poulsen said the council was assessing the road outside Waitati School and would like to see improved signs be installed in the next six months.

ELLA.STOKES @thestar.co.nz

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