New Plymouth District Council placed speed counters on South Road in the center of the village and discovered that 39,680 cars were going over the speed limit throughout a ten day period. This is right outside Oakura School where kids are crossing the road daily. Our year seven and eight classes are writing to the New Zealand Transport Agency to convince them to change the 70 kph zone at the entrance of the village and the road to our school to a 50 kph zone. This will hopefully slow cars down so they are not going at massive speeds in a school zone.
Cars are increasing their speed to get up a hill even though they should be slowing down. The fastest speed recorded by the NPDC was 141 kph! One third of the students attending Oakura school walk along this road and have to cross it to get to school -- increasing the potential for accidents or even death. There are also 60 new sections to be built up the road which will increase the population and the number of cars using this section of the road.
We are also requesting that NZTA put flashing lights on the pedestrian crossing. This will make it safer for the community to cross either at night time or in bad weather. Did you know forty six percent of night-time fatalities happen on low visibility crossings?
Oakura is growing as a community and something needs to be done before something bad happens! If you feel strongly about this you could write a letter to the NZTA as well.
Thanks for your support!
Written by Rachel and Emily H.
