The AA is reminding all drivers that children will begin returning to school this week so drivers need to be extra vigilant.

AA General Manger Motoring Affairs Mike Noon says a new crop of 5-year-olds will need watching out for, but children and young people of all ages are prone to running out onto roads without looking at times.

“The start of the school year is a busy and exciting time, particularly at drop-off and pick-up time,” he says.

“New entrants have very few road safety skills and with starting school they also have less one-on-one supervision than they’ve possibly ever had before. Meanwhile, older children usually have the road safety knowledge, but can be distracted chatting to friends, listening to iPods or texting on their phones.”

Most accidents involving child pedestrians happen when the child is crossing a road.

Parents and caregivers picking up and dropping off children should be very careful about parking on the opposite side of the road from the school, because they’re creating a road safety trap, says Mr Noon.

“Every year children are injured because they’ve seen their ride home on the other side of the road and they’ve run out to meet mum or dad without looking. It is always best for parents and caregivers to safely and legally park and then get out of their vehicle and wait at the school gate to collect children.”

Drivers must also be particularly cautious and alert around school buses in case a child runs out from in front or behind the bus, he says.

The number of 5 to 12-year-olds injured on roads during the school year has been creeping up recently. In 2008 there were 156 children injured, in 2009 there were 166, and last year there were 169. In each year one child has died.

A healthy adult struck at 50 km/h has about a 40% chance of being killed, but for a child the odds are much worse.

For this reason lower speed tolerances apply within 250 metres of a school from 7.30am to 6pm during the week and on weekends and evenings if a school event is on. This means that drivers travelling 5km over the limit can be ticketed by the Police.

However, the AA says drivers also need to watch out for children walking or cycling to and from school on all roads and always give them a generous margin for error.

The AA has been lobbying for a number of years to have the money collected from speeding tickets in school zones dedicated to school road safety, such as the installation of flashing school zone speed signs.

“There are still a lot of safety improvements that could be made to the road environment around schools and the AA thinks that money collected from motorists speeding near schools should be dedicated to this work.

“Since 2006 when the NZ Police 'Speed Kills Kids' campaign started, $45 million in tickets has been issued to motorists for speeding in school zones. This is more than enough to have installed better signage for all schools on busy roads and highways,” says Mr Noon.

For more information contact

Mike Noon
General Manager Motoring Affairs
New Zealand Automobile Association
M. +64 21 659 704
Email: mnoon@aa.co.nz