An act of bureaucratic madness has robbed Featherston School of a chance of finally succeeding in warning off speeding drivers who put children's lives at risk.
Transit has forbidden a sign urging drivers to slow down as they approach the school from being displayed head-on to traffic, insisting it be attached
to a fence running parallel to the road.
School principal Phil Robertson, who has been battling for years to strip Revans Street of its speedway status and protect his pupils, said the sign was an excellent one sponsored by a real estate company but because of where it had to be put it had little or no impact.
"By insisting it is parallel to the road Transit has made sure drivers will not see it."
The sign was put up about a month ago, several weeks after a speed monitoring device further along the road.
Mr Robertson said the age-old problem of speeding and carelessly-driven cars has not disappeared.
"Only recently a car was seen doing doughnuts and 180s outside the school right on the time the children were going home.
"It was seen by a school board member and reported to police but we haven't heard from them yet."
Mr Robertson said when he was on crossings with school patrols it was fair to say some drivers made a point of slowing down as they approached the school zone, but too many still did not.
Having no buffer zone - with speed limits going straight from 100kmh to 50kmh - "doesn't help" and it was more of a worry on Revan's Street than many other areas of Wairarapa as the street was a long, straight drag bringing traffic directly into town from Martinborough.
He said children don't always make wise choices when crossing roads and speeding cars "has got to be a worry".
Featherston police confirmed an average of six or seven speeding drivers a week are being apprehended on Revans Street.
