Road safety options discussed

Nine months after a tragedy that rocked a small Taranaki town, road safety was the major topic at its community board meeting.

The New Plymouth District Council has redesigned the intersection of Miro St and Rata St in Inglewood following a road accident in September, 2017, that killed seven-year-old Emma Warren.

At the community board meeting on Tuesday, the motion to prohibit parking around the intersection was passed and will go to council but not before concerns from two of the three members present almost saw the motion lapse.

NPDC and NZTA removed the pedestrian crossing in December last year and commenced a safety review of the intersection.

Resident Nicholas Jones made a presentation on the redesign of the town, saying the town was designed for an era with a lot less traffic. He proposed more pedestrian crossings, returning the Rata St/Matai St SH3 turn back to a T-intersection and moving the railway line to an underground tunnel. ‘‘There’s no features on our town roads which encourage people to slow down,’’ he said. Councillor Marie Pearce and fellow board member Kevin Rowan had several questions about the proposed parking restrictions.

The motion to recommend the parking restrictions was eventually passed.

Initially, there was no one to second the motion, as only three board members had attended. Pearce eventually seconded the motion so that it would go up before council.