A local principal says council’s decision to reduce speed limits around schools is positive but they could have gone further.

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) unanimously passed a proposal to bring down speed limits adjacent to the district’s schools in a meeting earlier this month. 

Most speed limits will be reduced from 40kph to 30kph during school drop-off and pick-up time.

Hāwea Flat School principal Tania Pringle told the Wānaka App that traffic around the school continues to increase as the school and community grows.

The reduced limits are “really important for health and safety and keeping everyone safe”, she said.

Many children at Hāwea Flat School bike and walk to school, some accompanied by parents and caregivers, and there’s also a pre-school adjacent to the school on St Ninians Way.

Hāwea Flat School is bordered by three roads and while at St Ninians Way and Camphill Road the speed limits will be reduced to 30kph, at Kane Road, a busy arterial road, the speed limit will change to 60kph during drop-off and pick-up times. 

Because the current signage advises drivers of a speed of 40kph around the school this could be seen as an increase in the speed limit, however a QLDC representative said the “key difference” was that the current 40kph signage was a “speed zone” whereas the 60kph signage will instead be a “permanent speed limit sign”.

The remainder of Kane Road is a 100kph, which meant bringing the speeds lower wasn’t feasible, QLDC said.

“We would have really liked to see the school zone extended further along Kane Road and it’s disappointing the council hasn’t taken that on board,” Tania said.

Busy, fast-traffic areas like Windmill Corner could have been made safer during pick-up and drop-off areas to better protect students getting on and off buses and those walking and biking.

The school and members of the community had made submissions asking for a broader zone with a reduced speed.

“It’s something that the wider community would like to see,” Tania said. “This would have been the ideal time to review that.”

Public engagement took place in June and July this year, and 91 submissions were received, with most in favour of reducing the speed limits around schools.

Some submitters were in favour of the reduced speed limits because they believed safety for children must be a priority and to accommodate for increasing numbers of children walking and cycling to school. 

Others said they supported the change because they believed footpaths were inadequate for demand in high pedestrian areas, and for distinction as most urban roads are now 40kph.

New signage around schools will be installed in the holiday between terms three and four, 

QLDC said.

PHOTO: Wānaka App