“Also, if we’re teaching the children from a young age the rules as drivers, they will know when they re older.” Guthrie said the school is taking part in Project Zebra – a community initiative aimed at educating children and motorists about the rules around pedestrian crossings – this week to help expand its own road safety campaign. Project mascot Zephyr the Zebra has been helping pupils over the Grants Rd pedestrian crossing while they carry signs which read ‘earn your stripes’ or cross at the zebra’ as part of the high-visibility safe crossing initiative.
Bejon Haswell/Stuff
A Project Zebra sign has been attached to the gate outside Timaru’s Grantlea Downs School.
The number of serious injuries reported dropped significantly in 2020, down to 36 which was the lowest in the same five-year period. There were 58 people seriously injured in 2019, 59 in 2018, 68 in 2017 and 64 in 2016. The number of people who sustained serious injuries in Timaru dropped from 24 in 2019 to eight in 2020, in Waimate from 12 to two, and in Mackenzie from 11 to eight. Aoraki Area Commander Inspector Dave Gaskin said the telling statistics were the ones related to serious injuries. “I always think this figure is more important, as often the difference between a serious crash and a fatal crash is a matter of millimetres. ”While one year is not a trend, and last year was a very big reduction on the previous years’ numbers, the number of serious injuries have been decreasing over a number of years.”
John Bisset/Stuff
An aerial view taken in March 2019 of the intersection of Winchester Geraldine, Tiplady, McKenzie and Coach roads that is set to change with the installation of a roundabout.
A long-awaited road safety improvement project near Geraldine is set to commence in January after the Timaru District Council confirmed the awarding of a million dollar work contract. Fulton Hogan has been awarded a $1.352 million civil works contract to carry out the upgrade, which will include construction of a roundabout on Route 72 at the intersection Winchester-Geraldine, Coach, Tiplady and McKenzie roads, the council said in a statement. Work will commence in early January and is expected to be completed in June 2021.