Traffic safety enhancements rolled out at schools across Kaipara

Kaipara District Council is underway with a safety improvement programme that will analyse 23 of Kaipara's schools located on Council owned roads. 

The Council Roading team based at the Northland Transportation Alliance office has a large programme of work ahead of them that looks at all aspects of safety outside the school gate.

Mangawhai Beach School has benefitted from having two Variable Speed Limit (VSL) signs installed that reduce the traffic speed from 50kmh to 40kmh during school drop-off and pick-up times. 

The VSL signs have the added benefit of constantly managing traffic speed by flashing the required limit when vehicles are approaching too fast. 
The VSL units wirelessly communicate information recorded including speed and traffic volumes; valuable data for Council’s road engineers for ongoing safety planning and asset management. 

Future enhancements include the installation of railings that direct pedestrians to the kea crossing minimising jay walking, and the installation of another pole to support the lollypop sign.

Otamatea High School is located on a 70kmh road and has two VSL signs reducing traffic from 70kmh to 40kmh during the school's busy times. 
Work is being done on widening the bus parking area to alleviate sightline issues around buses parked up at either end of the school day.

Te Kopuru School, just outside Dargaville, is located on a 50kmh road, and the VSL signs are highly beneficial in assisting with improving safety by bringing the speed down from 50kmh to 40kmh during school drop-off and pick-up times. 

Te Kopuru School will be receiving kea crossing improvements to ensure safer passage for school children crossing the road to and from school.
Council’s roading engineer, Dwayne Claassen, says Council needs to consider a number of factors when identifying improvements and safety inside any school zone.

“Things like road conditions, school type (which links to the age of the children), school roll, average annual daily traffic, heavy vehicles, One Network Road Classification, posted speed limits, crash history, the expected number of children on the roadside, the number of vehicles entering and exiting the premises, physical constraints, buses, and other environmental factors.”

Meanwhile, as well as keeping children safe coming and going from school, the VSL signs remind drivers of the speed limit at all times, supporting positive driver behaviour and increasing overall safety in the community.