Thursday 23 June 2016

Traffic Safety Update

The Traffic Safety team, along with suggestions from WMI have developed the following motto:

Road safety is no accident, plan your journey.
Don’t be hasty, practise road safety.

The team met with the Selwyn District Council again this week and we are excited to have the council on board with plans for new footpaths around West Melton School.  Provisions are being made for paths along Weedons Ross Road from the new shopping centre down to Brinsworth Ave and through the reserve on West View Crescent.  The council also plans to create a cut down opposite Laird Place to make getting onto the footpath easier.  We believe these paths will be an asset to our whole community.

Rick Groen is the West Melton School Police Education Officer.  He will work with the school to support the implementation of a proposed Kea Crossing connecting families on Gainsborough side of Weedons Road to West Melton School.  We hope to have this in place by the end of the year though it is dependant on the pathways being laid first.

The school is investigating creating a sealed pathway around the school field which will be well received by those entering the school on wet and frosty mornings and will also double as increased hard surfaces for children to whiz around on bikes and scooters during break times.

Bus safety has been brought to our attention and after a survey of the bus routes, the council has been approached for more “School Bus Route” signs on our roads.  Selwyn District Council was very supportive of this and, after a query directly to council from a parent, has already installed signs on Old West Coast Road.  They have agreed to install more signage along our school bus routes.

We will be looking into an “Either way it’s 20k” campaign to educate our community and keep our students safe on the roads.

We would like to thank families and community members for their support.  Together we can create safe travel routes to and from school for our children.

Brett Neal
Travel Safety Team

Board of Trustees co-ordinator