Drivers in holiday mode pose risk

Though the official holiday period is over, the prolonged spell of fine weather makes the Mangawhai area attractive to a large number of late week and weekend visitors.

Unfortunately, with less traffic in and around Mangawhai, drivers appear to be blithely cruising about well in excess of the signposted speed limits and unaware that the school year is again in full swing.

“Drivers are still in holiday mode,” says Lyndon Leabourn, proprietor/driver of the local school bus fleet. 

“This is especially noticable around school zones,” says Leabourn. “Drivers need to be aware that school zones have a 50 kilometre per hour restriction within 250 metres on each side of a school's boundaries but the maximum speed for passing a stationary school bus dropping off children is 20 kilometres per hour.” 

Statistics reveal that an accident at 50 kph offers just a 20 percent survival rate but that increases greatly to 80 percent at 20kph.

With nine school buses criss-crossing the Mangawhai area twice daily from 7.15am to 9am then from 2.30pm to 5pm, the likelihood of accidents involving school children are extremely high during the working week. 

Drivers need to be aware that small children, especially, can be unpredictable in their movements when leaving a school bus.

Fortunately New Zealand has a very good safety record for school buses, and serious crashes and incidents are rare.