A car crash that was waiting to happen

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

The Bloomfield Road-Bushmere Road intersection is very dangerous at the moment, approaching it from the Matawhero side.

For 250 metres leading up to the intersection, Bloomfield Road is an uneven mess of warped tarseal and potholes that get worse the closer you get to Bushmere Road. The usual warning sign that there is a compulsory stop up ahead is missing on that approach to the intersection. White road markings that would normally reinforce the need to stop have faded to almost nothing. There is one stop sign, right at the intersection on your left (previously stop signs on either side were about 10m before the intersection; approaching from the other side there are two still, as well as a warning sign 200m beforehand).

It was here on December 29, at around 5pm, that a car-load of Rhythm and Vines festival-goers from Hawke’s Bay drove straight into the intersection and collided with a vehicle on Bushmere Road driven by a local man. An eye witness estimated both cars were travelling at about 100kmh.

It is fortunate indeed that this was not a multiple-fatality crash. Four of the five girls in the car headed to R&V were taken to hospital by ambulance with minor to moderate injuries. Both vehicles were substantially damaged.

The Herald has heard the driver of the car that failed to stop missed the sign because she was focused on avoiding the pot holes; add to that inadequate signage and a lack of functional road markings.

Of course she should have been slowing and on the lookout for signage approaching an intersection; it does seem unlikely the car would have been travelling at 100kmh by the end of navigating that woeful section of road, as it hit Bushmere Road and another car, striking it side on.

It is concerning that a close call of this nature did not prompt a quick response to start making this intersection safe again.

Asked yesterday, the council said they had “checked the communications over that time and council were not made aware of this incident by police or anyone else”.

Someone finally lodged a “Request For Service” (RFS) with the council on Monday this week.

Everyone knows the council roading team and contractors have a massive job on their hands all around the local roading network. They also had a break over the holidays, until Monday last week, so the busy travelling period wasn’t disrupted by roadworks.

This is a well-used route across the Flats, so a lot of people will have seen it deteriorating and the intersection becoming increasingly dangerous.

As road users we owe it to each other to raise the red flag (RFS) in situations such as this; the council can’t get them fixed if it doesn’t know.