Next week is New Zealand Road Safety Week and some groups around the country are using it to highlight a lack of safety on roads around schools.
They are calling for a national speed limit outside schools of 40km/h or less during busy times, to make it safer for children on their way to or from school.
Currently, speed limits outside schools around the country range from 20km/h to 100km/h - but the call is for a consistent speed limit to make all school zones safer.
A limit of 40km/h outside schools in urban areas is gaining support, although how that would be extended to schools in rural areas is still being debated.
A new speed limit outside schools on the open road of 70km/h during daylight hours, gradually reduced to 40km/h when children are present, has been mooted, although whether drivers are prepared to reduce their speed on the open road to that extent remains to be seen.
For many drivers, it seems the open road is a racetrack.
A colleague of mine a few years ago who had moved to New Zealand from England once told me that neither she nor her husband could believe the attitude of many New Zealand drivers.
In particular, that almost every journey seemed to be a race and under no circumstances would one driver let another in front of them.
Although that type of attitude is more prevalent in major metropolitan areas, it can still be found in every town and on every stretch of highway in the country.
Those calling for a drop in the open road speed limit outside rural schools say road safety effectively does not exist outside those schools.
Although there is no doubt that reducing speed limits around schools during busy times would have the potential to slow traffic flows, those calling for the change point out that not only would it have the potential to save young lives, it would also encourage more children to walk or cycle to school, which in turn would free up roads from traffic dropping off children to school.
This year is the first road safety week in New Zealand sponsored by Brake, an international road safety charity.
Brake exists because every 30 seconds someone, somewhere in the world, is killed in a road crash. On average, at least one person dies every day on New Zealand roads, and about 40 more are injured - nothing to be proud of in a country with a population or size.