Dummy road run a shake-up for students

By RENEE KIRIONA

Murdle had no chance of standing up to a speeding police car when hit on a North Shore pedestrian crossing yesterday.

More than 100 children from Willowpark Primary School in Hillcrest watched as the vehicle, travelling 65km/h, drove into the dummy child.

For the police, the North Shore City Council and the school the staged event was a disturbing and graphic illustration of what happens when people speed, but succeeded in its aim to leave a lasting impression on the children.

"When I'm in the car with my daddy I'm going to tell him not to speed,'cause we might kill someone," one child said later.

The Wipe Off 5 campaign comes as police in the city crack down on speeding drivers who claim between five to eight lives on North Shore roads each year.

The first hit involved Sandy Beckett, of the police serious crash unit, driving at 60km/h then braking and hitting Murdle, placed near the centre of the crossing, at an impact of 5km/h.

The next hit, at 65km/h, left Murdle in more pieces over the road, confirming that a 5km/h increase would end in certain death, said Inspector Les Paterson.

"If we can encourage drivers to drop that to 60km/h, we can save lives. Slowing down by 5km/h is not too much to ask - it can make the difference between someone suffering minor injuries and being killed."

The Land Transport Safety Authority says 65km/h is the average speed of vehicles in North Shore 50km/h zones.

School principal Andrew Tait told the children that unlike Mr Beckett, other drivers did not start their day knowing when they had to stop.

"Imagine if a person driving that car didn't know they had to stop. There would have been no braking and any child [on the crossing] would have been killed."

Three streets linked to Eban Ave, in Hillcrest, were closed for about an hour for the display.