Focus on school road safety ahead of speed zone review
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Police are urging the parents of school children to talk to their kids about the dangers of going to and from school.
Ashburton Senior Sergeant Janine Bowden says locals can expect an increased focus on road safety as school reopen this week.
“It is often a good idea for parents to walk the route to and from school with their children and ensure they know safe places to cross the road and hazards to look out for.
“If parents are taking their children to school, please be mindful of the school drop off and pick up points and adhere to the road rules and signage.”
While parents and caregivers are being encouraged to pass on the road safety tips to students, road safety around schools is a two-way street and motorists also need to be aware, Bowden said.
“Our advice for motorists is to be alert, as children can sometimes be hard to see in and around cars and be mindful that new entrants and younger children can be unpredictable in and around our roads.”
In Mid Canterbury there are 30kph speed limits outside all schools during pick up and drop off times.
At most rural schools it is enforced by an electronic variable sign but around the urban schools, and two rural schools, there are permanent 30kph zones.
“Keep to the 30kph speed limit when passing schools, and 20kph speed limit when passing a stationary school bus,” Bowden said.
“Where appropriate, police will take enforcement action in the form of infringement notices.”
There has been plenty of community discussion around the introduction of the 30kph urban school speed zones.
Councillors raised concerns that the felt they were not being adhered to outside of school hours.
The 30kph limits, introduced in July last year, are set to be reviewed by the council in February after Ashburton mayor Neil Brown said he believed they were not working after just two months.
The council had wanted time-specific school speed zones but the legislation required a permanent speed or electronic variable signs – that cost an estimated $10,000 per sign.
Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced in December the Government is amending the speed limit rules, including allowing variable speed limits on roads approaching schools during pick-up and drop-off times, rather than permanent reductions.
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Under 1% of speeding tickets issued in the Ashburton District in between July and December were for drivers breaching the 30kph urban school speed zones. Only 13 (0.7%) of the 1744 speeding infringement notices were for drivers exceeding the school speed limits, and all 13 were issued on Walnut Ave.
Worst Xmas ever?
There's a a lot of planning that goes into Christmas day and sometimes things just don't go to plan. But it can be a good thing - a family mishap or hilarious memory that you can laugh about in Christmases to come.
Whether you burnt the dinner or were stranded at an airport...
Share your Christmas mishaps below!
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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61.7% Summer
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36.7% Winter
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1.6% Other - I'll share below
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