Highway speedsters scare school pupils
The 80kmh speed limit on a busy main road through a small settlement near New Plymouth is to be reviewed after complaints from residents, including a
10-year-old boy.
Omata mother Julie Withers said the New Plymouth District Council had responded to a letter sent by her son, Benjamin, asking for the speed limit to be reduced on South Rd/State Highway 45 at Omata from 80kmh to 50kmh.
There had also been calls for the speed limit to be reduced on South Rd between New Plymouth’s eastern city boundary and Omata from 100kmh to
80kmh, and nearby Beach Rd, off SH45, from 80kmh to 50kmh.
Withers and her family live in Omata on South Rd and were concerned the current speed limit was excessive for a residential area with a 200-pupil school close by, with commuters, tourists and heavy trucks frequently on the road.
The speed limit through smaller settlements, Egmont Village, Midhirst, Oakura and Normanby, is between 50-70kmh.
Schoolchildren risk serious injury, or worse, walking along the narrow road verge to school twice a day, Withers said.
A school project by her son highlighted the danger to pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders, she added.
In his letter to the NPDC,
Benjamin Withers said the 80kmh limit was ‘‘too fast’’ and asked for the road to be made safer.
‘‘The road is also quite narrow in parts, making it dangerous when sharing with cars, bikes, horses, and people,’’ he said.
‘‘I would like the speed limit lowered to 50km/h and a footpath put in.’’
The lack of a footpath and the narrowness of the road made it difficult for motorists to see children walking to and from school, he added.
‘‘Sometimes the trucks and cars do not see us and start drifting towards us.
‘‘Some vehicles even go over the white line beside us.’’
Omata School is situated on the corner of Holloway Rd and SH45 and there is poor visibility for motorists if a school bus is turning on to the highway.
NPDC infrastructure manager David Langford said a review of the speed limit had started.
However, he said there would need to be a lengthy consultative legal process involving feedback from residents and a report to the council before a decision is made.
Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency had also been asked to review the speed as state highways were its responsibility, Langford said.
WKNZTA acting regional relationship director Emma Speight said the agency’s Safe Network programme was currently identifying roads where changing speed limits could make a difference in preventing deaths and serious injuries, and where communities are calling for change.
The agency had not completed a technical assessment on the current speed limits on SH45 in Omata but was working with the NPDC on speed management in the region, she said.