Crowded roads taking toll on children

By CLAIRE TREVETT

Special needs children are the latest victims of Auckland's traffic woes, say taxi companies.

Some are enduring two-hour taxi rides to school.

Taxis United manager Grahame Webb said schools and parents were complaining about the time taxi school runs for disabled students were taking.

Taxis United carried about 360 special needs children to about 70 schools each day from areas as widespread as Mercer, Ranui, Henderson and Howick.

"The traffic is getting worse and worse," Mr Webb said.

"Some trips are taking 15 to 20 minutes longer each day than last year."

On one run to the Homai National School for the Blind and Vision Impaired in Manurewa, the first child was picked up at 7am but the van did not reach the school until 9am.

Parent Fiona McKenzie said her son Jesse's trip to Mt Roskill Intermediate School's physically disabled unit from their home in Manurewa took nearly two hours.

It would normally take 15 minutes but other pick-ups and traffic congestion delayed it.

"It's a long day for a child who goes to school two hours before it even starts ... It just kicks the life out of them.

"He gets very, very frustrated because he can't do normal things 13-year-old kids do because he's so tired."

The unit's director, Margaret Gaiqui, said students travelled to the unit from all over Auckland.

"These are all children who fatigue easily ... Many have terminal conditions and won't see their 21st birthdays.

"And they are spending so much of what little time they have sitting in a taxi."

It also increased pressure on parents, who had to get up earlier for children who could not dress or feed themselves.

Taxi Federation executive director Tim Reddish said taxi drivers also faced problems including medical and toilet needs and seizures because of the increased length of time children were in taxis.

The Taxi Federation wanted taxis to be allowed to use bus lanes to speed up taxi rides.

It had made a submission to Parliament's transport and industry relations select committee on the Land Transport Management Bill and planned to lobby local authorities in Auckland and Wellington over the next month.