School speed blitz off to shaky start

A tough-talking national police campaign against drivers speeding near schools got off to a spluttering start in Auckland yesterday when a camera van was damaged by another vehicle.

The police cannot tell how long it will take to repair the van, which is their only specialised mobile camera unit for Auckland City.

It was hit from behind while stopping for a pedestrian at a crossing on its way to an Onehunga school.

But city road policing manager Inspector Heather Wells vowed that regular patrol cars with dashboard radars and officers with hand-held detectors would make up for the setback at schools in her area in the coming days and weeks of the "Speed Kills Kids" campaign.

Police in other districts reported mixed success on the first day of the campaign, which marked the start of the school year for most children and aims to combine tougher enforcement with education.

Officers are under instruction to issue tickets to anyone caught exceeding speed limits by more than 5km/h within 250m of school boundaries between 7.30am and 9am or 3pm and 4.30pm, down from a normal tolerance of 10km/h over the bar.

Although the standard fine is just $30 for driving up to 10km/h above the speed limit - usually up to 60km/h in urban areas and 110km/h on the open road - those caught by police patrols rather than on camera face 10 demerit points towards suspended licences.

Superintendent Dick Trimble, of the North Shore-Waitakere-Rodney police, said his staff issued just four tickets around schools yesterday, because of a combination of good driving behaviour and speed-suppressing traffic congestion.

But Senior Sergeant Ken Climo of the Counties-Manukau police said his officers were forced to write several dozen tickets near schools in Mangere and Papatoetoe.

He said five patrols concentrated their efforts round schools yesterday, handing out educational brochures as well as speeding tickets.

"We don't want to be going out there hunting the public down - we like to educate them, to get the best bang for our buck."

Waikato road policing manager Inspector Leo Tooman said his staff wrote seven tickets outside one Cambridge school in only about 30 minutes.

With the exception of one man, who "performed like a trained seal because he didn't think it was on", those caught were mostly apologetic.

"I believe the public have a lot of sympathy with schoolkids, particularly new entrants, who are so unpredictable."

Christchurch police issued 30 tickets to motorists speeding near two primary schools between 7.30am and 9am. No warnings were given.

Sergeant John Hamilton said most of those ticketed were driving past the schools rather than dropping off children, although some parents were among those netted.

"A lot of people were very aware of the 5km/h tolerance outside schools, so the campaign has had an impact. But there have still been people speeding maybe a wee bit further from the school.

"We have had very good feedback from parents. They are really keen."


Too many deaths

* The speeding blitz around schools follows concern that 34 pedestrians and cyclists aged 5 to 18 were killed and 2055 injured before or after school in the five years to the end of December.

* Police Minister Annette King and Transport Safety Minister Harry Duynhoven launched the campaign yesterday outside Miramar Central School in Wellington, where it is understood one motorist received a speeding ticket.

- Additional reporting: Jarrod Booker