Green means go, red means faster

Palmerston North’s budding cyclists will have plenty more time to practise before getting on the roads, after the opening of a junior road safety park in the city.

Hundreds of families turned out to the park, built on land in The Esplanade, for the official opening on Saturday morning.

The $350,000 project, a joint effort between Palmerston North City Council and Pascal St Trust, was designed for children to practise riding bikes in an environment which had all the features of an actual roadway, minus cars.

The final result is virtually identical to a roadway, complete with a roundabout, give way and stop signs, working traffic lights at a four-way intersection and traffic islands.

There is even kerbing and gutters for when it rains.

The fact it looks and works like a real road should not be too surprising as Higgins, known for building many roads around New Zealand, constructed the park.

The idea was first taken to the council by Tash Collins and Allanah Radich, who have young children of their own.

Radich said it was amazing to see ‘‘so many happy, wonderful people’’ keen to use the park.

It had taken three-and-a-half years to get it from concept to reality, she said.

‘‘We wanted something for our kids and all the kids here in Palmy.’’

Cr Karen Naylor, who is also on the Pascal St Trust, said it had taken a few years longer than anticipated to get the park completed.

‘‘I think we will all agree it has been worth the wait. What we now have here is really special.’’

The park opening gave Palmerston North a taste of Auckland’s traffic woes, with various parts of the park gridlocked as swathes of children took to the roads on bikes, trikes and scooters.

While the majority of users demonstrated excellent knowledge of road safety, a traffic cop could have made a killing handing out tickets for dangerous overtaking, flouting give way rules, riding on the wrong side of the road and running red lights.

One young boy screamed ‘‘I’m going through a red light, I don’t care’’ while cutting off traffic.

A panelbeater may have also been required by the end of the day, with the odd crash inevitable at the busy opening.

Thankfully, almost everyone was wearing helmets.

The park is not just for children though, with adults able to use a station in it to pump up tyres and carry out bike adjustments.