"Rural children deserve to be safe from injury or death on their way to and from school," Dick said.
Lee Stream School principal Rachelle Moors said the school's board had been asking for speed calming measures to be installed on State Highway 87 for many years.
The speed limit outside the 26-pupil school — about 40km northwest of Dunedin — remains at 100kmh.
Motorists "travelled quickly" on the stretch of highway despite signs warning them they were approaching a school.
"Trucks zoom down here."
She believed many motorists would be unaware they had passed a school because it was hidden in the middle of mature shelter belts.
"We are not a visible school."
She doubted the Government would ever reduce speed limits past rural schools to 40kmh.
A speed limit drop between 70kmh and 80kmh and more signage to warn motorists of a school van operating in the area would be a good start.
Rural Women Middlemarch treasurer Pat Macauley, of Mosgiel, said Lee Stream School was a "classic example" of the need to reduce speed limits past rural schools.
Many motorists travelling past the school had a "fair head of steam on".
The speed limit should be reduced to 40kmh, Macauley said.
A motorist travelling at 100kmh would be unable to stop if a child getting off a school van ran on to the highway.
"They'd never be able to stop at the open road speed."