Every day after school Liam Florence-Smith dodges trucks and pits himself against speeding cars.
No - it's not a video game, it's how the nine-year-old gets home.
He lives opposite Ruakaka Primary School on busy State Highway One and walks across the road with his parents most days.
"Sometimes when there's lots of
big trucks and lots of steam coming out of them I get a big fright," Liam says. While he is the only pupil who walks, his 116 schoolmates cross the highway in cars or buses. Parents and the principal are gunning for improved safety measures.
Principal Marilyn Dunn would like to see a median strip or turning bay that would allow southbound right-turning cars to wait safely.
There have been a few close calls, she said, and there was often confusion and congestion as drivers waited on the side of the road or near the centre line until the traffic cleared.
"Trucks are roaring past to the left and to the right of them. It's an accident waiting to happen."
Ms Dunn is gearing up to put her case for a turning bay and additional school signage to Transit.
Northern operations manager Joseph Flanagan said Transit would look into the matter. "Transit will definitely investigate the concerns as soon as we receive a formal approach from the school," he said.
Meanwhile, Liam's mum Shona Florence says although one parent nearly always escorts him home, he sometimes gets impatient and crosses the road by himself - but he has good road sense.
Liam said rainy days on the stretch of 100km/h road were the worst: "I always get splashed and I don't like it one bit."
He would like to see speed restrictions on the stretch of highway outside the school.
"On the TV ad they speed around schools and a lot of kids get killed," he said.
Police are currently targeting motorists speeding past urban schools, promising to ticket anyone caught doing more than 55km/h.
