In light of the recent and tragic death of a student from a nearby school, we feel it is time to address the road safety and crossing etiquette that we expect from our Owairoa parents. The volunteers that help on the crossings each morning and afternoon are becoming increasingly worried about decisions parents are making which is compromising the safety of children, residents, and other motorists. We understand parking and drop off zones are limited but the children are able to walk a short distance from other nearby streets or parking around the Howick Domain.
- You must use the crossing. We understand that if you are crossing with your child you can make a sound decision on when it is safe to do so or not, but other children who are not with a parent think it is OK to do the same and this is inevitably going to end in an injury. Please remember we are adults and it up to us to set a good example for ALL children.
- Yellow lines are not for stopping on. Even if you are not parking, it is still illegal to stop on them and it makes it hard for the patrollers to put the signs out when you are stopped here.
- Making quick three point turns in driveways near the crossings are dangerous and reversing back out onto the road so quickly has seen a lot of close calls with both students and motorists. Please use the roundabout to change direction or travel further outside of the diamond areas where it is less congested.
- When your child is exiting the vehicle, ensure the do so on the footpath side and not the roadside.
- Please refrain from parking in or over residential driveways. If the residents can not access their properties it causes congestion and ques of traffic. Once this congestion builds up within the diamond area, the patrollers can no longer put their signs out.
- The Year 6 students and helpers on the crossing are volunteers. Please be courteous and kind when you are speaking with them. We are only there to keep all children safe and to do this we need to enforce the rules and you can help keep children safe by following them. We understand everyone needs to be somewhere, but we do not want tragedy to hit our Owairoa Family.
