Southern View: May 23,

FREE TUESDAY mAY 23 2017 379 7100 Southern View Proudly locally owned and published by Star Media Award winning publishing group Bellbird (Korimako) Spreydon, Hoon Hay, Hillmorton, Cracroft, Cashmere, St Martins, Somerfield, Sydenham, Addington, Waltham, Opawa, Beckenham, Huntsbury, Woolston Call for cycleway to keep students safe near school • By Noah Graham BUSY ALDWINS and Ensors Rds need an urgent cycleway to keep Linwood College students, who cycle to school, safe. That’s the call from school principal Richard Edmundson. Mr Edmundson and Andrea Cummings, a mother of two children who attend the school, made a deputation to the Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board to reduce the speed limit along Ensors and Aldwins Rds and to install a cycleway. The board asked city council staff to investigate options into installing a cycleway along the roads. Ms Cummings said when her daughter had cycled to school she worried for her safety. She said cars travel along the stretch of road “very fast” and without a designated lane for cyclists, someone was going to get hurt. “It is only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt.” The speed limit on the stretch of road is 60km/h and on Aldwins and Ensors Rds about 34,300 and 24,100 vehicles travel along them each day. Mr Edmundson did not have the exact number of students UNSAFE: Students using Aldwins and Ensors Rds to cycle to school have to ride alongside a stream of traffic, which Linwood College principal, and parents, are calling dangerous. PHOTO: GILBERT WEALLEANS who cycled to school, only that the majority were discouraged because parents were concerned for their safety. He said a cycleway installed on the road or the pathway, along with reduced vehicle speed, would convince more students to use bicycles. “Anything we can do to encourage kids to bike to school needs to be looked at seriously,” he said. Mr Edmundson said the school’s role was increasing each year and a cycleway would help alleviate the amount of congestion and traffic on the road. Students often phoned their parents, talking about the near misses they have had. A recent incident saw one student having to brake quickly while changing lanes to avoid crashing into a truck and was glad it did not end differently, which it could have. Andrea Cummings Richard Edmundson Board member Alexandra Davids said the stretch of road was not safe for cyclists. “At this moment I just don’t think it is safe enough. If I were a parent, I would not be keen on my child cycling down that stretch of road.” She said the community board was waiting on city council to respond with a report on the possible options on where and how the cycleway could be installed. A city council spokeswoman said they did not know when the community board could expect the report. She said if they could not have the speed limit of the road reduced, the safer option would be to have a shared pedestrian and cyclist pathway if it was possible. It was important for children in the area to be able to cycle to school, Ms Davids said. House of Hearing CLINIC PHONE Fendalton 03 351 3535 Halswell 03 322 4326 Rangiora 03 310 7355 Ashburton 03 307 8949 Blenheim 03 579 5353 Greymouth 03 768 5528