Revamp for risky roundabout after plea from school

Tauranga City Council Martin Parkes, Tahatai Coast School principal Matt Skilton, and Senior Constable Sarah McKenzie have come together to make the school area safer. Photo/Andrew Warner

A Papamoa school's fight for a safer roading environment is being addressed by the council.

Tahatai Coast School principal Matthew Skilton said the school had been fighting for a safer road environment for several months and this week met with Tauranga City Council to discuss options after months of calls for help.

The school's fears were realised about a month ago when a 7-year-old student was hit by a car on the other side of the Gloucester Rd roundabout, Mr Skilton said.

While the incident happened outside of the school zone, it reflected issues with drivers travelling too fast for an area where children were walking to and from school, he said.

The child was not seriously injured but their scooter was run over.

''The probability of another accident is quite high under the current circumstances. We need to work hard to get better infrastructure,'' Mr Skilton said.

Last week, the Bay of Plenty Times reported a parent's concern about the roundabout and the speed drivers were travelling through it. Mr Skilton said the school shared these concerns because drivers often maintained a high speed after exiting Papamoa's main highway on to Sandhurst Drive and continued this speed through to the Gloucester Rd roundabout near the school's entrance on Evans Rd.

''It's been a problem ever since they opened Sandhurst Drive,'' he said.

Ultimately, the school wanted a revamped roundabout with speed humps and a crossing to help slow drivers down.

''We, the police education unit and Travel Safe and the school, have been working collectively on this issue since. These are our kids. We need action to happen sooner.''

Mr Skilton said the school already had two Kea Crossings, which are on speed humps to assist controlling traffic speeds on school days, but proposed installing a third while waiting for a redesign of the roundabout.

''At the moment it doesn't really slow drivers down. It acts as more of a chicane than anything,'' he said.

''If speed humps and a crossing were put in it would slow traffic down enough. The idea of a Kea Crossing is that it's a visual thing. It just reminds drivers 'kid zone'.''

Mr Skilton said a long-term fix involved looking at better managing the higher level of traffic flow and speeds through the area.

Tauranga City Council transport manager Martin Parkes said it had been working with the school for a number of years on its school travel plan but the rapidly growing population of Papamoa and recent roading changes prompted a revisit with the school to discuss the travel plan.

The sought-after changes to the roundabout by the school, to make it safer for crossing, could be in place within six weeks, he said.

''Council is currently working on an engineering solution to improve safety for all road users in the area, with particular focus on the Evans Rd/Gravatt Rd/Gloucester Rd roundabout.

''We are hoping some of these changes, but not the Kea Crossing, could be in place before Christmas. The process for the delivery of an additional Kea Crossing will take a bit longer.''

Kea Crossings provide children with a safe place to cross the road and operates when a school patrol and two fluorescent orange crossing point flag signs are present. They're installed around schools so school patrols can control traffic and safely guide children across the street.