Speeding concerns fall on deaf ears
Tı¯rau’s Sharon Churchill knew it was only be a matter of time before someone died speeding along her street.
For 12 years she’s lived in the South Waikato town’s Prospect Ave where late last year a man was killed after he failed to negotiate a moderate left-hand bend and collided with a tree.
Churchill said the street, which was once predominantly used as a town bypass by emergency services and the odd local to get between State Highway 27 and 1, has now become somewhat of a drag-strip as word of the shortcut’s spread to outof-towners.
Despite making several complaints to the South Waikato District Council that something needed to be done, after two serious near misses prior to the fatality within the last two years, her concerns appeared to fall on deaf ears. She’s now started a petition to get judder bars installed.
‘‘Something needs to be done as soon as practically possible to reduce the speed to create a safer community for the residents in Tı¯rau,’’ she said.
‘‘I see people speeding down here every day, multiple times a day.
‘‘People have cottoned on that they can shoot down the road and bypass the town altogether and although they are not meant to turn right, if they are coming from the south end, they turn into the street and scream past to get to State Highway 27. It’s making residents feel very unsafe.’’
She said in all three recent incidents the same thing has happened.
‘‘They lose control on top of the hill because they are speeding and don’t realise there is a bend there,’’ she said.
Churchill said she’s disappointed in the council’s lack of action.
‘‘I contacted the council originally after the first incident and was told they could put some rubber strips at the end of the road to monitor how fast traffic was going . . .but I never heard anything from them after that,’’ she said.
‘‘After the second one I left it for a while but it irked me, I knew I had to try and do something. I said ‘what is it going to take before action happens, someone is going to die?’ and eleven days later someone did.’’
She said her petition to get judder bars installed was widely supported by fellow residents.
‘‘The general consensus is speed humps. Not everyone is going to agree but something has to be done because this will happen again,’’ she said.
South Waikato District Council communications manager Kerry Fabire initially declined to answer questions from Stuff saying ‘‘we can respond to your query with a holistic view, once we have received the petition’’, but later said the council was looking into possible solutions.
Sergeant Daniel Peat supported safety improvements being made and said police were targeting people offending in this area.
‘‘Catching them in the act is very difficult . . . but those identified have been spoken to and attempts have been made to remedy their behaviour,’’ he said.
‘‘A cul de sac would likely prevent a lot of the issues and also remove the danger created by traffic merging and entering the street illegally from State Highway 1. Judder bars would also assist in decreasing the dangerous speeds that sometimes occur.’’
The petition can be signed at the town’s information centre.