Family living in fear someone will die
Sweeping corner and slippery lines a combination that catches out unwary drivers, says nervous neighbour
We are losing sleep and it is affecting our mental health, living in constant fear. Shahni Judkins
Shahni Judkins and her family are in constant fear someone will be seriously injured or killed if the road layout on a corner outside their home is not changed.
The mother of two lives with her family on the corner of Boundary Rd and Korau Rd, Tikipunga and, over the past three weeks, there have been six incidents where vehicles have failed to take the corner and ended up on the grass verge.
There have been plenty more over the past three years with one vehicle smashing through the fence and ending up in the front yard last November.
The latest terrifying incident happened in the dark early on Saturday when a four-wheel-drive vehicle lost traction, skidded across the lawn and came to a stop millimetres from a newly built wooden fence.
The four people in the vehicle were not injured but the vehicle was a write-off.
“We are losing sleep and it is affecting our mental health, living in constant fear. For everyone’s safety, the road layout needs changing or for my family’s safety and sanity, a metal barrier needs to be erected around the corner,” Judkins said.
“I don’t even like to use my front garden for fear that a car will come through while I am out there. I am constantly terrified that another car is going to come through my fence and one of my family is going to be on the other side of it and will be seriously injured, if not killed.”
In a bid to create a safety barrier, Judkins has put a row of concrete blocks on the verge. She believed they might have slowed the latest vehicle enough to stop it destroying her fence.
Judkins has stepped up her bid to get something done and on Sunday wrote to Whanga¯rei MP Shane Reti and Labour’s Kelvin Davis explaining urgent action was needed on the corner. She invited the politicians to come to look at the corner she described as “sweeping, with lots of slippery white paint”.
She believed the camber was wrong which resulted in many drivers going over the white lines.
“This is also a safety issue for the residents who live down the end of Boundary Rd who need to turn right and go across these lines, as they are often met by vehicles coming towards them.
“Some have reported to me that they have had many near-misses.”
She said the safest option was to make it a T-intersection with a stop or give way sign and do away with the sweeping corner.
“If the council will not do this then I am asking that they please erect a metal guardrail around my house so that my family and I are safe.”
Last April, Judkins alerted the Whanga¯rei District Council to her concerns.
In December, Hilary Malcolm, customer service administrator for Roading Northland Transportation Alliance, confirmed the senior traffic safety engineer had been advised that council would lengthen the white line on Boundary Rd, because this was known to slow traffic.
“We will also be adding two 25km urban chevrons at the corners. Both of these measures have a beneficial effect of slowing vehicles down,” Malcolm said.
The work had been done but made no difference, Judkins said.
Yesterday road safety and traffic engineer Nick Marshall said council shared Judkins’ concerns and some safety work had been done.
“While we can do these things to make the road safer, there is no way for council to control bad drivers. Even so, we will assess the site again and see if there are further measures that can be taken,” Marshall said.
According to the police crash database the corner had only two recorded accidents in the past 11 years. But Marshall said the recent crashes might not be recorded yet, as they could take up to six months to be loaded.
The intersection is rated as low risk according to NZTA’s national assessment tool.
Marshall said the council had a list of works on roads that was extensive.
“When people contact us with a problem, we investigate and assess its priority against other jobs on the list. Sometimes people’s requests coincide with a job that has already been listed, and sometimes it is a matter of starting from the beginning. This is a constant process.”