Safety - less cars are better

MAARTEN HOLL/Dominion Post

Another excerpt from the school travel study:

It appears that compared with other countries, New Zealand has a poor track record for unintentional child injury, including transport-related injuries. An analysis of unintentional child injury data in New Zealand (Alatini 2009) reported that for the period 199195, New Zealand was listed 22nd of per 100,000 children was more than twice the rate of countries such as Sweden (5.2, the lowest rate), the UK (6.1), Italy (6.1) and the Nether Australia (ibid). More recently, New Zealand has been reported as having the worst score (out of 24 OECD countries) for deaths from accidents and injuries per 100,000 population under 19 years (UNICEF 2007). Between 2001 and 2005, transport-related injuries (grouped together) were the largest cause of child death from unintentional injury, accounting for over half of all injury-related child fatalities in New Zealand. This included deaths of children as vehicle occupants, pedestrians, cyclists, and while riding motorised vehicles (including motorbikes and all-terrain vehicles).  The RoadSafe Auckland website (www.roadsafeauckland.org.nz/school-safety/) states that in the Auckland region, over 30% of all pedestrian-related injury crashes involve school-aged children, most of  them on their journey to or from school. 

And from a recent article:

Speed limits outside schools should drop to 20kmh, says a surgeon sick of seeing "the emotion, the trauma and the distress" of children hit by cars.

Brendon Bowkett, a paediatric surgeon at Wellington Hospital, said too many child pedestrians were dying or being badly injured in car accidents that could be prevented with slow zones.

City councils are working to install variable speed signs outside schools but say that, at a cost of $40,000 each, the Government needs to chip in.

Between 2001 and 2005 – the last time a study was conducted – 24 children died after being hit by cars outside schools and 1500 others were injured. Many other children were hit outside their homes or churches.

New Zealand needed to follow suit, Mr Bowkett said. "When I go to conferences I'm continually embarrassed and disgusted by our pathetic results. To see the emotion, the trauma, the distress that these kids face is just terrible – I'm just sick of it, to be honest.

"Outside schools and churches and places where kids are, the speed limit needs to be 20 to 25 kilometres."

A 2007 United Nations report said New Zealand had the worst rate of childhood accidents and injuries among developed countries.

Mr Bowkett accused government departments of playing down the problem. However, Transport Minister Steven Joyce said a blanket speed limit outside schools would be difficult to implement and enforce.

"You have to put speed limits in place that people will respect. If you start putting blanket speed limits, you will find people will ignore them more and it might have the negative effect of [motorists] literally ignoring those restrictions."

Instead, the Government was encouraging local authorities to implement variable speed limits near schools that could be lowered during school hours. "If you see a flashing sign outside a school you'll respect that."

Wellington City Council's transport portfolio leader, Andy Foster, said flashing signs had been put up outside Owhiro Bay School and Cardinal McKeefry School, in Wilton, which warned motorists to stick to 40kmh. However, they cost about $40,000 each.

Cannons Creek School principal Ruth O'Neill said lower speed limits would help to make school zones safer.

School staff helped to patrol two pedestrian crossings and she wanted the crossings raised so they acted as judder bars.

"Every time you go out, at some stage you have to physically launch yourself on to the crossing before cars will stop."