Canterbury kids win big to brighten tough week

Four pupils and a teacher from North Loburn School in north Canterbury are flying to Wellington tomorrow (Wednesday 8 September) today to pick up a major prize that will make their school safer and brighten a tough week for the region.

North Loburn School, north of Rangiora, is closed like other schools in Canterbury following Saturday’s big earthquake – but the pupils and teacher are travelling to Wellington to pick up the prize that will go a long way to improving road safety around the school.

The group is heading to this week’s Trafinz (Traffic Institute of New Zealand) conference as the South Island winners of a traffic speed-control system, manufactured and donated by HMI Technologies.

The systems comprise state-of-the-art, solar-powered, LED signs that flash warnings to motorists to slow down as they approach schools.

Randwick School from Lower Hutt is the winner of the North Island prize.

The prizes will be presented at the conference (Duxton Hotel) just after 1pm tomorrow.

Trafinz President Andy Foster says it is a pleasure to present the awards – and especially nice that the group from North Loburn has been able to make it to Wellington.

Pupils from both schools made short video documentaries to demonstrate the road safety dangers in the vicinity of their schools – and enlisted the help of teachers, local residents, police and local councils.

North Loburn School is on a rural road with a 100kmh speed limit. It is used by logging trucks and other heavy transport. Randwick School, on the other hand, is on one of the Hutt Valley’s busiest arterial roads with a significant history of crashes.

Mr Foster says the schools “have very different locations – but both feel that more needs to be done about vehicle speeds and driver attention to make their pupils safer. I salute both schools and both communities for making the effort.”

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