Kids’ fear in blame game
After a smash and countless nearmisses outside the school, roading bureaucrats admit an ‘‘agonisingly slow’’ response. By Jenny Ling.
Every morning during the school run, teachers and parents hold their breath as the bus loaded with young children pulls into Umawera School.
Located in the rural Far North, on State Highway 1, they’re terrified a truck or car will come hurtling up the hill and crash into it.
They’ve been asking the Government for something to be done for a decade.
A string of internal emails shows the Far North District Council’s frustrated attempts to get action at Umawera and Oruaiti schools – and they’re not the only council that has complained of dealing with the NZ Transport Agency bureaucrats.
The emails were obtained as part of the Sunday Star-Times’ Foot It investigation, campaigning to make it easier for families to walk, ride and scoot to school.
In one, NZ Transport Agency official Mark Newsome confesses to his boss Ernst Zollner that ‘‘the processing of speed limits has been agonisingly slow’’.
Zollner, the director of NZTA for Auckland and Northland, complains of ’’long officious answers’’ from the agency’s head office.
The email trail shows repeated pleas from Far North mayor John Carter: ‘‘Can you please see if we can get this resolved before one of the current students becomes the Prime Minister!’’
NZTA would not comment on the emails. Both schools have recently heard they’re getting new signage early next year.
Umawera School Principal Christine Gilmore said a car accident 10 years ago prompted them to ask for safety measures. A car was turning to drop a student off when another vehicle came around the blind corner, clipped it and spun it around, she said.
The 41-pupil school is on a blind corner, she said, ‘‘so loggers and traffic rush down one hill to get enough speed to go up the other.’’
After the crash the NZTA ’’decided nothing could be done’’, she said. So the school invested in compulsory fluorescent vests. ‘‘It’s exceedingly dangerous, it’s an accident waiting to happen,’’ Gilmore said. ‘‘My biggest fear is that it will be our bus.’’
Further north, Oruaiti School, on State Highway 10 in Mangonui, has been asking for road improvements for at least five years. ‘‘I cringe every time I see the buses trying to cross. One day a truck is going to come around and t-bone it,’’ said principal Diane Bates, ‘‘A reduced speed limit would be better, but I’m pleased they’re doing something ... we don’t want to wait till there’s a tragedy.’’
Carter said he would keep pushing for reduced speed limits. ‘‘It’s been frustratingly slow.’’
NZTA Northland Highway Manager Brett Gliddon said the agency would improve school signage.
The Sunday Star-Times has written twice this year to mayors, urging them to put lower speed limits in place outside schools. Some have written back saying their hands are tied by NZTA rules. For instance, Nelson mayor Rachel Reese said her council had to spend ‘‘significant money’’ on road engineering outside Auckland Point School, because its roll was too small to meet NZTA’s criteria for reduced speed limits.