HENDERSON PRIMARY PICKUP LANE NOW OPERATING ON 14-SECOND STOP WINDOW, PARENTS TIMED
One mother brought a stopwatch. The deputy principal brought a clipboard. Neither is backing down.
The pickup lane at a Henderson primary school has been clocked at a 14-second average stop time, after a parent stood at the gate on Tuesday with a stopwatch and a grievance.
The parent, Hayley Toakai, said she'd had enough of being honked at by the Hilux behind her while she clipped a five-year-old into a booster seat. "Fourteen seconds. That's what they're giving you. I've waited longer at Lynn Mall for a courgette."
The school's deputy principal, who asked not to be named because "the PTA WhatsApp is already a warzone", confirmed the lane was "operating within expected parameters". The parameters, she conceded, were set by "a parent who used to work in logistics".
A second mother, Bridget from the Year 3 class, said the lane had become "genuinely unhinged" since term three. "Someone did a three-point turn last week. In the lane. With the lane full. A grandmother mouthed something at him I will not repeat at a school."
Auckland Transport, asked whether the pickup lane fell under their remit, said it did not, then asked to be taken off the email chain. The PTA WhatsApp now has 412 unread messages.
The stopwatch parent has been invited to join the traffic subcommittee. She has declined, citing "conflict of interest and also I have a life."
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Reader Letters
TrevfromWest
Honestly, it's just school pickup. Everyone needs to relax. Try picking up from Avondale College, you'd kill for 14 seconds.
MumOf4Waitakere
Hayley should come to my house some mornings, we do a 7 second hot breakfast challenge. This school thing is a breeze by comparison.
Garry (Halswell)
Back in my day, you'd walk half a kilometre to The Milk Bar after school, rain or shine. Parents didn't need lanes or stopwatches.
tonysmallchange
14 SECONDS IS JUST A TOOL OF CONTROL! How long before they make us scan in with COVID tracer apps again?!
Sandra McKenzie
Actually, the average stop time nationally should be 18 seconds for primary schools, according to the NZTA guidelines.
wayne1987
Sandra, you're all about the numbers. Maybe volunteer for the PTA instead of just quoting guidelines!