A safe speed group is pushing for speeds around schools to be capped at 30km/h.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Last year the government proposed this speed limit around urban schools but a higher cap of 60km/h around rural schools.
The 30km/h limit is a speed recommended by the World Health Organisation.
"People ... will not change their driving habits unless it's made a law" - Lucinda Rees
Lucinda Rees, from NZ School Speeds, said decisions around speed limits outside schools are inconsistent.
"I think consistency is the only way that roads will be safe outside schools because when children cross outside schools they're often distracted and they're in a hurry very often and they also aren't very good at judging speed."
Rees said the road rules need to be changed to prioritise and protect children.
"When you're in the city centres these days you have to slow to 30 but you can still drive past children going to and from school in a rural area at 100ks often, so that's completely and utterly wrong."
She said lowering the limit would also encourage more children to walk and cycle to school.
Rees said currently motorists do not know what speed to travel when they pass a school because there is no blanket rule.