Millie’s plea for a safer road
A young New Plymouth girl has started a petition to lower the 80kmh speed limit on a rural road near her home.
Seven properties and a primary school front onto Waireka Rd East at Omata, 7 kilometres southwest of central New Plymouth.
The narrow, 350-metre road, which has a blind corner, is linked with State Highway 45, which has an 80kmh limit within Omata and a 100kmh limit past the village boundary.
In her petition to the New Plymouth District Council, 11-year-old Millie Stonier asked for the speed limit outside the Omata School sports field to be lowered to 50kmh.
‘‘Many people walk their dogs and ride their horses down the road,’’ she said in her petition.
‘‘Not just that, but many of us have other animals like cats. What if one of them got run over because of the speed limit? That would be very upsetting.
‘‘Our wildlife needs protecting as well. There are lots of pukeko and quails crossing the road and kereru¯ and kingfishers sweeping low.’’
Pupils from Omata School often hop over the school sports field fence to retrieve balls, she said. Millie feared one of her school friends could be hit by a car speeding around the blind corner as they went to get a ball.
In the mornings the road is busy with children walking to school and people driving to work.
Quite a few motorists drive down the road to sightsee and are not familiar with the blind corner, or whether children could be playing nearby, she said. ‘‘Sometimes people do burn-ups and damage property, such as knocking over postboxes,’’ she said.
‘‘Once, my mum and I were walking up to our postbox at the turning circle
‘‘Many people walk their dogs and ride their horses down the road.’’ Millie Stonier
and then suddenly a big water truck came shooting around the corner. Luckily we got out the way but it was still frightening.’’
Omata School assistant principal Stuart Bennett said it made sense to have a lower 50kmh speed limit on a road next to a school.
‘‘Anything which can be done to make it a safer environment for the community and the school is a positive thing.’’
New Plymouth District Council infrastructure manager David Langford said staff would investigate the issue.