Tinwald School road safety fears being considered
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
A Canterbury school near a busy road is hoping fears over vehicle speeds will be addressed when the council reviews school speed zones later this year.
Tinwald School's board of trustees raised safety concerns about the stretch of Graham St bordering the school, particularly between Thomson and Harland streets, with the Ashburton District Council earlier this year.
Board presiding member Chris Hill raised the safety concerns in April.
“There has been a significant increase in the volume of traffic that travels this stretch of road. And as a result, has caused a heightened level of anxiety and safety concerns,” Hill told councillors at the time.
An “informal review” by the school had estimated a conservative figure of between 90 and 160 cars travelling along Graham St during school pick-up and drop-off times.
Council data shows that the average speed on Graham St is 47kph with over 2000 vehicles daily.
The council had introduced permanent 30kph urban school speed zones in July last year, but in February determined that the speed limits would become time-restricted as soon as the Government amended rules governing the setting of speed laws.
The minister of transport’s redrafted rule is out for public consultation and is scheduled to be changed by the end of the year.
Tinwald School wants Graham St added to its existing 30kph zone, and the council’s road safety co-ordinating committee has recommended it be included when the time restrictions are introduced.
Hill told the Local Democracy Reporting he was pleased to see the concerns were being addressed by the council.
“There has been positive communication with the council and hopefully we get to a resolution to improve the safety of our children.”
Roading manager Mark Chamberlain previously stated that Graham Street was not initially included when the council introduced the speed reduction because there is no access to the school off the street.
The logical solution will be a variable speed limit being considered when the council revisits speed zones following the law changes, Chamberlain said.
Tinwald School’s concerns also included the crossing points on Graham St, suggesting relocating the pedestrian crossing.
The council met with the school’s board on Thursday afternoon to discuss installing better pedestrian crossing signage and the possibility of the school running a crossing patrol at the Graham St crossing.
The recent Tinwald corridor upgrade included the creation of a safe route to Tinwald School that encourages pupils walking or biking to school to use the new traffic signals, and the shared paths on Agnes and Thompson streets that lead to the Graham St pedestrian crossing.
Can you figure this one out, neighbours?
I have seas with no waters, coasts with no sand, towns without people and mountains with no land. What am I?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.
Why are ghosts such bad liars?
...You can see right through them.
No, we haven't lost the plot! July 1st is International Joke Day and because laughter is good for your body, we want to get involved.
So, go on, jokers! Share your best joke below...
‘Excessive’ road cone use sparks cost concerns
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Mid Canterbury farmer Ray Logan says he's fed up with the "over-the-top" use of road cones.
Driving past road works at the Ashburton Domain, where a new replacement kerb and channel is being installed, he said he couldn’t understand why the road cones stretch the entire length of the worksite “almost touching each other".
“It’s just excessive, and I see it as having no respect for the ratepayer's money,” he said.
“It’s already fenced on both sides, so really you only need a few dozen cones as the fence is the barricade but then you have this long line of I don’t know how many road cones.
“The number of cones is completely unnecessary.”
He said he had no problems with the work being done, as the kerb and channel needed replacing, and the health and safety aspects were part of that - “but it needs to be within reason”.
Roading contractors were wasting too much money on over-the-top safety measures, especially road cones, he said.
“It certainly needs to be looked at.”
Ashburton District Council contractors have been renewing the kerb and channel on Walnut Ave, between Oak Grove and West St/SH1 since May 20.
Council infrastructure and open spaces group manager Neil McCann said the project costs of $180,000 included about $4000 (2.2%) for cones, fencing, and temporary pedestrian crossings.
“Given that this work involves large heavy machinery, an open trench, and is also well used by Ashburton College, domain users and a rest home, the thorough safety measures to protect the public and the construction are appropriate and necessary.”
The work is being carried out in three segments, starting at the Oak Grove end in late May.
The new kerb and channel are not as deep as the old one, but will be higher than a standard kerb to make it difficult for vehicles to be able to drive up onto the Ashburton Domain, McCann said.
Logan's observations come after Transport Minister Simeon Brown put NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) on notice over the cost of its traffic management.
Brown told a Budget scrutiny select committee last month it was "unacceptable" that NZTA did not know the costs of what is spent on temporary traffic management.
On top of making NZTA start to measure the costs from September, a new less prescriptive code was coming in that should be more efficient, he told MPs.
"I've received advice that in some cases where traffic management's been proscribed, it's actually more dangerous putting out the road cones than it is actually doing the work," Brown said.
"So we actually just have to take a safety at a reasonable cost approach, rather than a safety at any cost approach."
He added a recent NZTA study found that, at many sites lots of road cones were being left out unnecessarily, frustrating motorists.
"There's been an infestation."
Loading…
