Elderly fear road crossings
Elderly residents are crossing the road in fear as concerns about the volume of traffic in a rural Manawatu town grow.
Cianna Jordan is leading a group of senior citizens with mobility restrictions to have official pedestrian crossings installed at the roundabout intersecting Kimbolton Rd and Aorangi St in Feilding.
Jordan said members of the group were reluctant to use the courtesy crossing at the busy intersection despite a refuge space in the middle.
The lack of designated crossings made simple chores, such as visiting Countdown and Totally Fresh, a frightening experience, she said.
For more than a decade Joy Carter has suffered from low vision and relies on sound. She is forced to walk 50 metres past the roundabout before crossing, to avoid the backlog of traffic.
The distance added several minutes to a task most ablebodied people would manage in 30 seconds, she said. And it didn’t alleviate her fear of crossing.
‘‘I rely heavily on the sound of traffic and good will of drivers. Not having a pedestrian crossing makes it a very nervous wait,’’ Carter said.
‘‘We work around it and some people stop for us, but it’s not a fix,’’ Jordan said.
‘‘Feilding has a very large senior population and they’re active seniors.’’
Stuff recorded 186 vehicles that passed through the roundabout on June 21, which at times backed up and disrupted traffic as far as Stafford St.
Manawatu District Council roading operations team leader Brent Holmes said the Kimbolton Rd and Aorangi St intersection would be reviewed during the council’s streetscaping work.
In its 2015/2025 Long Term Plan the council planned for redevelopment of the Central Business District, carried out on Stafford St in 2015, and scheduled for Bowen St in 2018 and Warwick St in 2019.
Holmes said the plan was to extend that work to Kimbolton Rd after 2019.
It was ‘‘highly unlikely’’ traffic lights would be considered an option, Holmes said.
Because the two streets made up sections of State Highway 54 and crossed a railway, any work would be in conjunction with the New Zealand Transport Agency and KiwiRail.