Parent's plea for lower speed limit

Ritodhi Chakraborty wants safety improvements around his son’s school – and he is not alone.

All of the roads surrounding Lincoln Primary and Lincoln High School have a 50km/h limit, which has parents like Chakraborty and principals concerned as traffic and the number of pupils and students increases.

The primary school’s main exit is on James St with side exits on Boundary Rd and North Belt, while Lincoln High has exits on Boundary Rd and North Belt.

Chris Nord became principal at Lincoln Primary in April last year. He said since then there has been two incidents in which teachers’ vehicles were hit while parked on the road. 

The most recent crash was in June when a car hit three teachers’ vehicles. Police are still investigating the incident, which saw the injured driver walk away from the stolen vehicle after the crash on James St.

“We have had several near misses on crossings around the school,” Nord said.

“On a regular basis, I get contacted by members of the community about their concerns.”

The school has asked the district council to bring forward its plan to lower the speed limit around the school to 30km/h but was told this wasn’t possible as public consultation on the speed limit changes must be done first. 

The district council aims to lower the speed limit outside both schools by June 30 next year as part of the safe speeds around schools programme. Consultation on the change is planned for October.

Lincoln High principal Kathy Paterson is also concerned about road safety issues. Paterson said she was aware of a recent near miss where a primary school-aged child was nearly hit by a vehicle on North Belt. She said there has also been issues with parents not following the road rules.

“We have observed parents dropping kids off at the pedestrian crossing and that included getting their bags out of the boot,” Paterson said.

Parking has also become an issue with parents using the high school’s driveway as a turnaround bay.

Chakraborty walks his son Theo, 7, to school and says he is worried about safety and speed.

“As a parent, I would like to see (the speed limit lowered) as soon as possible but, if we have to wait till next year, I guess that’s what we will do.”

But Springs Ward district councillor Grant Miller does not think speed was the main issue.

“A lot of it schools need to work on, particularly you’ve got children getting out the wrong side of vehicles . . . children not crossing at the pedestrian crossing,” he said.

Miller believes the safest long-term safety fix would be a traffic light crossing on James St.

Miller said a large proportion of primary school students live nearby and could walk or bike to school, relieving traffic issues and parking. The district council aims to adopt its new speed management plan for all roads in the district in the first half of next year. 

District council transportation delivery manager Geoff Rhodes said the roads around schools are a priority. To help with traffic issues the high school also shifted its finishing  time to 2.45pm, which has relieved some of the pressure on the roads but not all of it.

Nord said there are more than 2000 students from both schools coming and going each day – and their rolls are set to grow. At the start of 2022, the primary school had 623 pupils but will have 760 by the end of the year.

For now, parents, including  Chakraborty, will stick to walking their children to school.

Additional reporting John Spurdle, Public Interest Journalism Fund