Housing NZ keeps children safe

SECURE: Juanita Tau no longer has to worry about 3-year-old Lincoln (seen here with older brother Andre, 9) being hurt on the road or her driveway, thanks to a fence and child-proof gate installed by Housing NZ. PHOTO/PETER DE GRAAF

A Kaikohe mother-of-five used to fear her 3-year-old son wandering out the driveway of her Housing New Zealand property and on to the road.

Now, thanks to improvements, Juanita Tau can let her youngest son Lincoln play outside without watching his every move. Ms Tau's home is one of 212 Northland properties to have work completed on its driveway as part of Housing New Zealand $30 million safety programme. Ms Tau said the fenced off area at the back of her property has given her peace of mind.

"We live at a the end of a cul-de-sac so there's often kidswho are a bit older playing on the street," she said.

"Lincoln would see them and of course wanted to join so, if I was hanging out washing and heard him be quiet for three seconds, I'd have to drop everything and stop him getting on to the road." Ms Tau's other sons were aged between nine and 14 so she didn't have to worry about them. However, she often babysat other under fives.

"It's awesome because the mums can park their cars, put their kids over the fence to play and go and do their shopping without worrying either."

Ms Tau said no child in her whanau had been injured on a driveway but she knew such tragedies had occurred in Kaikohe. The programme began last November with the aim of reducing the risk of children being run over in the driveways of state homes by creating fenced-off play areas for children.

Another 25 Northland homes will have improvements made in the next few months.

Housing New Zealand Northland manager Neil Adams said the priority was to make safety improvements at properties where there were children aged 5 and under, as toddlers were at the greatest risk of being injured in a driveway accident. The improvements ranged from installing fencing, self-closing gates with child-resistant latches, speed restriction signs, speed humps and convex mirrors where appropriate.

"The work we carry out depends on the type of property - but the key priority is creating fenced play areas for childrenwho are separate from the driveway," Mr Adams said.

New Zealand has one of the highest recorded rates of child driveway death and injury in the world, with a child hospitalised every two weeks.