Sacred Heart Catholic School, Geeveston, is one of the few schools in the state that does not have a variable speed limit during school drop-off and pick-up times, with a fixed speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour.
Typically, a speed limit of 40 kilometres per hour applies in Tasmanian school zones during busier times of the day.
Often there’ll be a school zone sign that will reflect what these specific times are, or an electronic school zone sign that will use high visibility LED to display the set times.
Sacred Heart Catholic School principal, Annie Baker, expressed her concern for the safety and welfare of students and the risks that come with such a high fixed speed limit.
“We are concerned for student safety and we would encourage the Minister to consider the need to reduce the speed limit,” Mrs Baker said.
Franklin MP David O’Byrne has written to the Transport Minister and his predecessors about the safety issue on several occasions since at least 2019 and tabled a petition a few years ago, which gathered nearly 300 signatures from concerned locals, which was met with inaction from the government.
