Tauranga man's near-miss has him rallying the council for change

An elderly man is rallying the council to get rid of a "pancake roundabout" near Bayfair Shopping Centre after a near-miss left his wife injured.

However, Tauranga City Council says the roundabouts were designed with bus drivers in mind and were clearly signposted.

Ronald Chamberlain had been driving down Concord Ave on a wet day last month when he noticed a 4WD coming straight at him out of the corner of his eye.

He slammed on his brakes and his 82-year-old wife hit her head hard on the window causing an abscess to develop in her mouth.

Chamberlain had driven over a new "dead flat" roundabout at the intersection of Concord and Links Aves.

"I couldn't see a thing, the conditions were very bad. I hadn't driven that road in a while and there was no warning sign to say a roundabout was coming up."

The roundabouts had been built in February as part of the Concord and Links Aves safety upgrade.

He said they had both been very shaken up, with his wife needing to see an emergency dentist to fix the abscess.

Chamberlain believed it was a "cheap way" for the council to put the roundabout in and it was a "death trap".

He said it was lucky he had been driving quite slow or else he thought he, his wife and the other driver would be "wiped out".

Chamberlain said his son was a bus driver in the city and agreed that the flat roundabouts were fiddly and dangerous to get around.

He had sent letters to both the Tauranga City Council and the local MP to try and get rid of the roundabout or at least get "adequate warning" put in.

He said the simple sign at the entrance was not enough for a road of that length.

"I really think this could save lives."

He was yet to hear back from his letters but said he would do anything to ensure no one got in the situation he did on the roundabout.

A Tauranga City Council spokesman said the roundabouts were designed to be almost flat so buses could drive over them when they turned through the roundabout.

He said it was concrete and different colour and texture to the road to make it clear that smaller vehicles needed to be driven around the roundabout.

"The intersection is clearly signposted and there are shared crossings at either. These are visual clues that people should drive slowly through the area."

Similar roundabouts were elsewhere in the city where buses need to negotiate tight turns, for example at the intersection of Otumoetai and Grange Rds, he said.