Fed-up residents call to fix crossroads

Fed-up residents are calling for a roundabout to be installed at a popular tourist intersection after yet another crash.

Seven people were injured in the collision, one critically, at the intersection of State Highway 29 and Hopkins Rd yesterday. The intersection is the turn-off

Lord of the Rings fans must take to reach the Hobbiton Movie Set, 8km away.

Aaron Mudgway, who has lived opposite the crash site for almost a year, said the intersection has been the scene for many serious crashes.

‘‘It’s so bad here, and yet they’ve got all this room to put in a roundabout to slow things down,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s 100kmh through here and it’s the signage that ain’t good enough.

‘‘You’ll hear trucks on their horns two or three times a day because of close calls.

‘‘They need to change it, or else this is going to keep happening,’’ he said.

Mudgway said the crashes tended to involve tourists too busy looking at their navigation systems.

In 2016 a woman died and two others were critically injured when a logging truck and a carload of tourists collided at the same turnoff.

The car had turned directly into the path of the logging truck, police said.

Matamata-Piako District Mayor Jan Barnes said the intersection fell under the jurisdiction of the New Zealand Transport Agency, but doubted a roundabout would be installed on that particular straight piece of highway.

Only 4km away and at around the same time as the first incident, two vehicles were involved in a second crash at the SH27 and Puketutu intersection.

‘‘It looks like someone has failed to give way at this point, and we have one injured occupant from the van who has been transported to hospital via helicopter,’’ Waikato Police Sergeant Andrew Osborn said.

The second crash involved a van and left one person trapped in a critical condition. Matamata firefighters on the way to the Hobbiton crash came across the second collision at the SH27 and Puketutu intersection.

Nine police staff were on the scene and Osborn said traffic diversions could be in place for some time yet.

‘‘Be mindful, it’s going to be a few more hours at each end,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s hard to say for how long until we complete our investigation.’’