Waimarama Rd crash zone
Yet another car goes off road at rural danger spot
AWaimarama Rd resident is fed up with “dangerous drivers” not driving to the road’s conditions. Last week two crashes happened within 50m of each other.
Jacqui Cane lives not far from the crash sites, opposite Lake Lopez, and said that over the 20 years she had lived there it had become progressively worse — but many crashes went unreported to police.
“Once you go round the corner, down a deceptive slope, there’s big ditches on each side and after some rain the road can become slippery and they are upside down in the ditch.
“I’ve lost count of the cars we’ve personally hauled out of ditches ... how many times I’ve been faced with a vehicle on my side of the road ... and how many times I’ve been so intimidated by a speeding car coming up behind me as I’m stationary trying to turn into my driveway that I’ve had to keep driving.”
The summer time is “worst”, Cane says. “We dread the summer because the road gets so busy. There is noseto-tail traffic on a fine weekend as everybody is heading out to Waimarama and Ocean Beach.”
She has been to the Hastings District Council four times in the past year-and-a-half and says she doesn’t know what can be done.
Signs have gone up indicating school buses stop frequently and highlighting a 50km speed limit up one part of the slope. But Cane believes the responsibility lies with the driver.
In the latest incident, on Sunday, a car carrying four people veered off the road and into a paddock. Police, fire, ambulance and the rescue helicopter had to turn out.
Constable Reece Marshall said that as far as police could tell, the car was travelling within the speed limit. “I think it is a combination of being left of field and maybe a little bit of loose gravel on the road.”
He said although that wasn’t the sole cause, they had asked the council to sweep the road again as a precaution.
The car’s occupants — two adults, a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old — escaped with only “minor scrapes and bruises”.
Marshall said what made the difference was them all being strapped in correctly. “It is a good reminder to check car seats and make sure they are correctly installed in the lead up to summer.”
He said the volume of traffic over the summer contributes to the accidents seen on the road. “It is a rural road and it is reasonably narrow, so it is something that people have to be aware of when travelling on it.”
He urged people to use their judgment when deciding on their speed.