Fears for Whakarewarewa School pupils over 'dangerous' crossing, Sala St traffic

Whakarewarewa School Board of Trustees chairwoman Michelle Hawe, left, and concerned grandmother Paekiri Vercoe at the Sala St crossing. Photo / Andrew Warner

Pupils at Whakarewarewa School are being dropped off at school even if they live across the road because their caregivers say a pedestrian crossing on Sala St puts their lives at risk.

The Rotorua school sits off the road on Sala St, which is a main thoroughfare for heavy vehicles and other traffic, but there are no signs warning drivers there is a school nearby.

The pedestrian crossing is on a bend and has been recently changed by the New Zealand Transport Agency in an attempt to make it safer, but the school says it's only made the danger worse.

Concrete islands have been put in at the crossing in an attempt to make the crossing more visible. The school and caregivers say instead it had narrowed the bend, making it harder for trucks and other larger vehicles to make it around without driving over the islands.

School Board of Trustees chairwoman Michelle Hawe said the islands had only been in since June and already the concrete was smashed as a result of trucks' tyres running over them - which was close to where the children were now expected to stand and wait for traffic to stop.

It's only been a few months and already the traffic island has been damaged. Photo / Andrew Warner

Hawe said the school wanted the speed reduced from 50km/h to 40km/h outside the school, more signage warning there was a school nearby and an investigation into a safer pedestrian crossing for the children.

"It is just too dangerous and it's just not safe for our children to cross the road," Hawe said.

The New Zealand Transport Agency acknowledged the concerns and hopes to have the problems fixed by the end of November but says changes to speed limits are a longer process.

Grandparent and Whakarewarewa kohanga reo administrator Maude Wano said her grandson lived across the road but she wasn't prepared to let him cross alone.

"I no longer will. I will drop him off now," Wano said.

Paekiri Vercoe lives nearby and wants to encourage her three grandchildren in her care to walk to school, but she said it was too dangerous.

She is now driving them to school each day.

Vercoe said with more vehicles using Sala St now, the problem was getting worse and they feared a child could be seriously hurt or killed if they attempted to cross the road.

Wano, Hawe and Vercoe said the median strip when turning right off Sala St into the school was also too narrow and they always felt scared a truck or car would drive into them from behind as a result of having to negotiate the bend and pedestrian crossing.

"We shudder waiting in that median strip for a break in traffic to turn," Wano said.

New Zealand Transport Agency Bay of Plenty system manager Rob Campbell said "School" supplementary plates would be included with the "Pedestrian Crossing Ahead" signs.

Campbell said the Ministry of Transport was developing the Tackling Unsafe Speeds Programme, which aimed to lower speeds around schools in urban areas to 30km/h with 40km/h acceptable in certain situations, and 60km/h near rural schools.

However, it would need a legislative change, which wouldn't happen until next year.

He said the transport agency was considering speeds in urban Rotorua and there was a chance to review Sala St as part of that.

They planned to redo the Sala St pedestrian crossing by cutting back the concrete islands following concerns from the school and would remove old line markings on the road.

This would be co-ordinated with resealing work in mid-November.

"Doing this at the same time will minimise cost and road user disruption. We expect this work to be completed by the end of November 2020, however, this is weather-dependent."

Campbell said they had received feedback that the concrete islands installed in June were causing some northbound vehicles to drive through the corner at a wider angle than had been taken previously and they also encroached on the right-turn bay for Whakarewarewa School.

He said cutting back the concrete islands would provide increased lane width for northbound vehicles.