Persistent campaigning by the Takanini Residents Action Group has seen the Papakura Local Board call a meeting with Auckland Transport to urgently improve safety in and around Takanini School.
Action Group member Ann Emery has appealed to the board’s public forum several times for action to slow traffic near the school.
Now the board is looking to work with Auckland Transport, starting with an on-site meeting to see the problems that Mrs Emery says are common on the roads, and which she calls "an accident waiting to happen".
Board chair Brent Catchpole says the board needs to act before this year’s elections, when a new board could be elected that forces campaigners to have to start their appeals again.
"We can’t afford for this issue to be working its way through a prioritisation process. We need to seek urgent solutions. These are our young people whose lives are at risk here."
Board member Bill McEntee says keeping children’s safety comes before driver convenience. "This is happening outside a school and this is an urgent safety matter."
The residents’ group has appealed for a range of traffic calming methods, from signals to raised crossing platforms.
"We aren’t the experts, but we know enough from living in the area that someone is going to be hurt very badly if nothing is done," Mrs Emery says.
