A change to a land transport rule came into force on April 5 2022 enabling bilingual school traffic signs, says Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency Director of Land Transport Kane Patena.

The Land Transport Rule: Traffic Control Devices (Kura/School Signs) Amendment 2022, which specifies requirements for ‘school' signs that can be used on roads, now requires bilingual sign supplements for new school signs.

'With over 2,500 schools across Aotearoa New Zealand this represents a significant opportunity to increase New Zealander's exposure to te reo Māori through traffic signs,” says Kane.

'The Government wants to see te reo Māori seen, spoken and heard wherever possible, to contribute to the revitalisation of the language. Bilingual signs have been used on the network for some time, but the rule change will help with more consistent and safe use across Aotearoa New Zealand,” says Kane.

The amended rule shows the word kura to be positioned in bolder font above the word school to differentiate te reo Māori and English on new school traffic signs.

When developing its approach to introducing bilingual traffic signs, Waka Kotahi undertook research to identify international precedents and to examine the safety implications. Numerous countries use bilingual signage, and no evidence was found of bilingual signage increasing the number of people being killed or seriously injured where this was measured.

The Kura/School signs will be used by Road Controlling Authorities when existing signs need to be replaced or new signs are introduced. Existing English-only school signs remain legal traffic signs until they are replaced.

Supplied Image.

Waka Kotahi in partnership with Te Mātāwai, is progressing a long-term programme of work which will see more bilingual signs enabled using a phased approach.

Te Mātāwai Board Co-Chair Reikura Kahi says that increasing the visibility of te reo Māori at a community level where our whānau live and play is an important component for revitalising te reo Māori”.

'Waka Kotahi and Te Mātāwai will continue to investigate other bilingual or te reo Māori only traffic signs which can be enabled across the motu as part of the He Tohu Huarahi Māori bilingual traffic signs programme,” says Kane.

The programme also has support from Te Manatū Waka Ministry of Transport and input from Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori Language Commission

A Summary of Submissions document that analyses and provides a brief summary of the 564 submissions and feedback from Waka Kotahi technical specifications and images for the Kura/School signs are now available on the Waka Kotahi website.