Ask Phoebe: Strict limits enforced for school zones

Traditionally, the school day begins at 9am and ends at 3pm for primary schools. The speed limit also applies for 10 minutes at other times when at least 50 children cross the road, or enter or leave vehicles at the roadside.

Only 4km/h tolerance allowed on 40km/h.

I am puzzled as to what the speed limit is when I drive past a school.

I got a ticket for exceeding the speed limit once near a school I did not even know existed.

Some schools have flashing warning lights saying 40 km/h. These seem to be lit up half an hour before school and half an hour after school has finished.

Some schools have a sign saying "school zone" but no lit sign.

Some schools have no sign indicating there is a school there at all and this was the case when I got my speeding ticket.

Some schools have "school zone" signs right outside the school gate - nowhere near the 250m limit.

I was also told that the 4km/h tolerance above the speed limit is in force for one hour before school starts and one hour after school activity finishes.

I was informed that 250m before and after the school zone there is a 4km/h tolerance on speed. I was going 55km/h so was by my understanding 1km/h over the limit, which I accept.

But this seems to be different for the 40km/h flashing light signs. I had a look at the photo taken when I got my ticket and consider I was well outside the 250m zone.

Could you please clarify this for me?

Bernard Bateman, Golflands.

School speed zones are in force throughout Auckland with a 40km/h speed limit on school days for a maximum 35 minutes before the start of school and 20 minutes at the end of the school day, beginning no earlier than five minutes before the end of the school day. Traditionally, the school day begins at 9am and ends at 3pm for primary schools. The speed limit also applies for 10 minutes at other times when at least 50 children cross the road, or enter or leave vehicles at the roadside. Appropriate signs are installed to mark the beginning and end of the area where the speed limit operates. Police strictly enforce a 4km/h tolerance within a school zone.

Australian magpies were introduced to New Zealand in the 1860s, not the 1950s as reported last week.

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