KEY POINTS:
At first glance, a sign announcing the end of a low-speed zone just before a bustling Auckland school pedestrian crossing might suggest a bureaucratic blunder.
But staff and parents at Gladstone Primary in Mt Albert are frustrated Auckland City Council does not accept the sign is misplaced, and that Government rules for imposing new 40km/h limits outside selected schools will deny children special protection at one of their two main entry and exit points.
"I'm tearing my hair out," said principal Iain Taylor after a meeting with council officials yesterday on the first day of term for his 760 students.
"There's a sign telling motorists they have left a school zone but then they hit a pedestrian crossing - it's madness."
He and his staff were delighted when the city council agreed to impose a 40km/h limit at the beginning and end of each school day for 250m in each direction along the main arterial route of Carrington Rd, from February 23, when the scheme will get a top-level launch by Minister of Transport Annette King.
It will be only the second Auckland City school to gain such a zone, although seven others will follow before July and similar schemes apply at several in Waitakere and North Shore cities.
But their pleasure was dampened when a sign appeared in Seaview Terrace, just around the corner from Carrington Rd and spilling over with children when the afternoon bell rings, announcing the end of the zone and the resumption of the general 50km/h urban speed limit.
Auckland City senior road safety co-ordinator Claire Dixon said the sign was in accordance with strict criteria laid down by Government agency Land Transport New Zealand for such zones.
These meant the zones could not apply to any street where surveys show that fewer than 15 per cent of motorists exceed 50km/h.
She said although Seaview Terrace became very busy before and after school, its narrowness and the number of cars slowing to drop off or collect children tended to suppress speeds without need for extra measures.
Ms Dixon was confident the 40km/h zone in Carrington Rd would send a strong message to motorists to take special care around the school, although the council would monitor speeds and make recommendations to Land Transport if it believed changes to its criteria were warranted.
Mr Taylor said he feared the offending sign might be taken as an invitation to motorists to speed up before reaching the pedestrian crossing, and he hoped that would be rectified before the scheme's ministerial launch.
Some parents walking home yesterday afternoon with their children were confused about the proposed zone and a police campaign to reduce their tolerance of speeds around all New Zealand schools to just 4km/h above normal limits.
Although the 40km/h limit will apply only for 35 minutes before lessons start and for 20 minutes at the end of a school day, the police campaign will extend from 7.30am to 6pm and at other times when children are gathered for sports or cultural events.
Parent Julie Naden said that as an accident and emergency nurse she had seen the results of too many horrific traffic accidents involving children.
But although she supported the proposed 40km/h limit, she believed enforcement of seatbelt rules should receive a higher priority.
National road policing manager Superintendent Dave Cliff said he was disappointed his staff had to issue hundreds of tickets around the country yesterday to motorists who had ignored advertising about the low-tolerance speed campaign.
These included the driver of a bus speeding past the campaign's launch outside a Wellington school yesterday by Mrs King.
