Safety plea on crossing after three are injured
A grandfather has called for safety improvements to a New Plymouth pedestrian crossing after a crash that sent a young family to hospital.
A father and his two children, aged 2 and 7, were taken to Taranaki Base Hospital on Saturday after they were hit by a car while crossing St Aubyn St outside Mitre 10.
Constable Mike Mathews said they had moderate injuries including scrapes and grazing, while one of the children also suffered a broken collarbone. They have since been discharged.
The cause of the crash is currently under investigation and police were reviewing CCTV footage. The NZTA has said it will undertake a review of the crossing once the police inquiry has concluded.
The father involved in the crash, who asked not to be named, said while he was still not sure exactly what happened, he was a regular user of the intersection and thought there should be safety upgrades.
His concerns were echoed by George More, 73, who said he had contacted the New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) and the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) about the crossing back in January 2016 as he was worried about taking his two grandchildren across.
More, who is not related to the family that was hit, lives in Scotland but rents a house on Lynmouth for three months of the year to be close to his son and his family during the summer.
The former defence lawyer said he had to cross the road on a regular basis when he was in New Plymouth and each time there would be several cars passing the crossing before any would stop.
‘‘It became clear to me that it was extremely dangerous,’’ he said. ‘‘There were times you just couldn’t get across.’’
He said the problem was compounded with cars parked on either side of the road, as they limited how easily drivers could see people waiting to cross.
He suggested putting traffic lights at the crossing as it would make it safer for pedestrians to cross as well as breaking up the flow of traffic to allow other cars pulling out from the driveways along the road.
The NPDC had passed his suggestion onto the NZTA as the road is officially State Highway 44.
But Opus, a consultancy firm that manages the road on behalf of the agency, told him there hadn’t been any incidents at the crossing and it wasn’t feasible to install lights there.
Opus has been approached for comment.
NZTA Taranaki Transport System Manager, Ross I’Anson said: ‘‘The Transport Agency is always concerned when vulnerable road users are injured on the roads.
‘‘The crash is currently being investigated by police so we can’t go into what may have caused it. Once the investigations are complete, the police will provide findings into possible contributing factors.
‘‘The agency undertook a review in December 2016 of this crossing along with several other zebra crossings on SH44. The crossing has all the required signs and markings but we will undertake a more in-depth review once we have the information from police.’’
Senior Sergeant Robbie O’Keefe, Taranaki road policing manager, said staying safe at pedestrian crossings went back to the basics of looking left and right before walking across.