‘Fatal crash waiting to happen’: Resident
Auckland Transport is sending a specialist traffic team to the West Auckland suburb of Titirangi to investigate multiple complaints about a street where drivers are often seen driving the wrong way.
Resident Peter Millman, 59, said he has had to turn around three motorists on Woontons Lane where he lives just in the past week.
Since April 12, Millman said he has filed nine complaints with Auckland Council and Auckland Transport because “this is just a fatal crash waiting to happen”.
Millman, an artist, has lived on the street for 30 years and said his partner had a head-on crash about 10 years ago with their then 1-year-old son in the car.
“Three weeks ago I was nearly killed by a tradie going down the wrong way. It’s not safe to even be walking on that street anymore.”
Woontons Lane is a one-way residential street that connects South Titirangi Rd to Paturoa Rd.
“Motorists are always going down it the wrong way,” Millman said.
“I’ve been trying to raise this as an issue with the council for the past 10 years but no action has been taken.”
Millman said the problem was a lack of signs.
A motorist was seen driving the wrong way when a Herald photographer was there yesterday morning.
Auckland Transport spokeswoman Natalie Polley said the agency was “aware of safety complaints about Woontons Lane”.
“Our traffic operations engineering team is heading out there in the coming days to see what needs to be done.”
She said the last time agency staff investigated, it was found that signs and road marking were adequate. “However given the new complaints, we will be looking at it again.”