Crossing pleas unanswered
A death or injury outside Postgate School is waiting to happen, say parents and a city councillor who have been fighting for years for a pedestrian crossing outside the school.
Porirua City councillor Anita Baker invited Kapi-Mana News to stand on Omapere St at 3pm last week to witness the dangerous road crossings she says happen every day. In 20 minutes dozens of schoolchildren crossed the road among heavy traffic, with at least one child causing a car to brake suddenly to avoid an accident.
A path from Postgate School spills pupils onto Omapere St just south of the BP station by Postgate Dr after school finishes.
‘‘I have been elected for two years and nothing’s happened,’’ Ms Baker says. ‘‘I’ll come and paint the white lines myself soon. I’m fed up.’’
Various reasons have been given for the years of delay, from the difficulty of moving a bus stop by the lane, to the lane not being an official school entrance, she says.
Ms Baker has offered to set up a crossing patrol by the lane but has been told the road is too dangerous to allow a patrol.
Parent Derek Smith says the school community has been asking for a crossing for four years.
‘‘Every time we got to a certain point they say ‘we can’t’,’’ he says.
Postgate pupils say the road is dangerous and they want a crossing.
‘‘There’s been close calls with people crossing the road, especially little kids,’’ 12-year-old Kshana Fa’amasino says.
Porirua City Council technical services manager Geoff Marshall says other road safety projects take priority over the Omapere crossing.
‘‘Our priorities are based on accident stats. This is a classic discussion about whether we wait for an accident to happen,’’ he says.
Mungavin Ave and Warspite Ave have high car crash rates and need more urgent attention.
The cost of road safety projects means only a third of them can be done each year, Mr Marshall says.
The council is investigating the Omapere crossing again this week, he says.