Tauranga City Council making road changes at hit-and-run location in Gate Pā

Safety improvements have been proposed at the Tauranga intersection where a car collided with two people riding an e-scooter in a hit-and-run.

A resident who lives across the road from the intersection caught the crash on CCTV last Friday and said the crash was not a one-off.

She feared a child would be killed if safety improvements weren’t made after several crashes in recent years, including a car ploughing through her fence.

Tauranga City Council transport network safety and sustainability manager Anna Somerville said the council had proposed building a raised pedestrian crossing in Faulkner St, at the Cook St intersection in Gate Pā.

She said this was part of the council’s work to improve safety in the Gate Pā, Greerton and Merivale suburbs.

It was concerning to hear about the two people hurt in the hit-and-run and the council’s thoughts were with them, Somerville said.

“We are currently working on what this improvement could look like before we share the preliminary designs and changes with the community.

“Construction could begin in early 2024,” she said.

Cook St resident Teisha Paratene’s security camera captured the crash, which happened just after 7.30am last Friday.

The video shows a small vehicle in Faulkner St approaching a give-way at the intersection with Cook St.

As the e-scooter — travelling in Cook St and carrying two people understood to be a mother and daughter — crosses the intersection, the vehicle turns onto Faulkner St and hits them.

Only one rider appears to be wearing a helmet and both are collected by the edge of the car’s bonnet. They and the scooter are carried briefly before they fall to the road.

The motorist keeps driving.

One of the riders stands up immediately and walks to the side of the road, the other sits on the road for a few seconds before walking to the verge and lying down on the grass.

Paratene told the Bay of Plenty Times she “couldn’t believe any human being would do that”, referring to the hit-and-run.

She and her partner realised something had happened after hearing the dogs barking by the fence and seeing an ambulance attending to the two people.

Paratene said they immediately checked their camera footage so they could give it to the victims. She said her partner was told they were mother and daughter when he went out to speak to them.

She said they were told the mother was wearing a helmet and driving the scooter, and appeared to have a head injury after taking the brunt of the impact.

The daughter was in shock and had cuts and grazes, Paratene said.

CCTV footage showing a car crashing into a scooter carrying two people in Gate Pa in Tauranga. Video / Supplied

Paratene said the crash was not a one-off and in her view: “It’s a dangerous intersection.”

She said there were a lot of boy racers and heavy traffic coming to and from nearby schools and the hospital.

A few weeks ago she witnessed a 4WD and a car colliding at the same intersection.

She said people did not stop when coming out of Faulkner St, or cut the corner turning onto Faulkner St from Cook St.

Two years ago, a car failed to stop at the intersection, ploughed through her daughter’s car on the kerb, then went through the fence and down the side of the house, she said.

If her daughter’s car hadn’t been there, Paratene believed, the car would have gone through her living room.

She said she wanted a raised pedestrian crossing and an island installed in Faulkner St at the intersection. If that didn’t happen, she believed “one of our kids will definitely get killed”.