Shelter helps keep kids safe

SAFETY FIRST: Wairarapa Total Span manager Pat Fairhall (left), Wairarapa Road Safety Council co-ordinator Bruce Paul, Wairarapa Road Safety Council project co-ordinator Holly McGeorge and Total Span owner Warwick Dunn, with Year 1 and 2 students in the new bus shelter.

Travelling to and from school has just been made a lot safer for Fernridge School students.

Total Span has built a bus shelter on Upper Plain Rd, with Masterton District Council laying limestone paths from the shelter to the school, about 2km west of the shelter, to help keep the children safe.

With the help of the Wairarapa Road Safety Council and local artist Sian Torrington, students from the school have decorated a colourful pou outside the shelter to warn motorists that children are travelling this stretch of road and to take care.

A bright speed warning sign is painted on the side of the shelter.

Fernridge School principal Janine Devenport said the aim of the shelter was to reduce congestion outside the school when dropping off and picking up children, and to promote exercise for the children.

Parents of the 190 students are encouraged to drop their children off at the shelter, where they can either bike or walk to school on a safe pathway.

The children can wait away from the cold and wet weather inside the shelter for their parents after school.

The stretch of road from Kibblewhite Rd to the school is 80km/h.

"It's fantastic. It will reduce congestion and promote physical activity. It's nice and safe for them," she said.

Wairarapa Total Span manager Pat Fairhall said that through a charitable trust the company provided two new sheds annually somewhere in the country They cost around $3000 each.

Schools or community groups can apply for one to be developed in their area.

They helped promote road safety and keep children safe, Mr Fairhall said.