Schooled-up on road safety

Nelson police are reminding parents to school up their children on road safety, before they head back to the classroom.

As school holidays draw to a close, Senior Sergeant Grant Andrews, who leads road policing for the region, said there are simple things families can do to ensure safe passage for young children.

‘‘One of the worst problems we have, and we have it each year when schools start going back, is parents aren’t allowing enough time to get their children to school so they’re parking directly outside, and most times on the broken yellow lines where they can’t park,’’ he said.

Broken yellow lines often lead into pedestrian crossings, or the entrance to the school, and are put their to ensure visibility and safe crossing for students.

‘‘Sometimes it’s on the opposite side of the road so the kids just jump out of the car and go straight across the road to the school gate,’’ he said.

After a six-week break, children were not always as alert or aware of the dangers, and it was worth allowing extra time to walk them to school safely and explain potential dangers.

Simple reminders about where children can cross, that cars can move quickly and may not see them, and to keep to the left if biking could make a big difference.

‘‘With the younger kids, it may even be that the parents go down over the weekend and walk them through, just to remind them how to get to school, and show them ‘this is what we do’,’’ he said.

It was worth remembering that children ‘‘aren’t 20’’ and needed reminders about dangers such as quiet electric bikes and traffic.

Andrews said all motorists should be aware that 40kmph speed zones would be back in place around schools, and people should slow down and factor in extra time for their journey.

‘‘There’s extra traffic so your journey, whether you’ve got kids or not, is going to take longer to complete as we slip back into the school year,’’ he said.

Nelson City Council manager of roading and utilities Margaret Parfitt said that parents and motorists also needed to be very aware of school buses.

‘‘When dropping off or collecting your child from the school bus, try to do it so that you are on the same side as the bus, this will cut out the need for your child to cross the road,’’ she said.

‘‘Park your car well away from the bus stop or other children so you don’t block drivers, children’s or the bus driver’s visibility.’’

The speed limit for passing a stationary school bus when children are getting on and off is 20kmh and applies no matter which direction that the motorist is travelling in.

Students were reminded ‘‘wait as far away from the road edge as possible’’, until the bus moves off.

‘‘If you need to cross the road, wait until the bus has driven off and you can see clearly up and down the road,’’ Parfitt said.