Safety review of Tararua pedestrian crossings after Dannevirke man's close encounters

Dannevirke's Roger Ramsden has had two close encounters with cars on a pedestrian crossing.

An elderly Dannevirke man has been left fearing for his life, not once, but twice after close encounters with cars on a High St pedestrian crossing.

"I was nearly run over on the crossing by the Black Stump on two separate occasions by drivers who were on their cellphones. They had to brake suddenly to stop," Roger Ramsden said.

Concerns about pedestrian crossing safety have also been raised by Labour List MP Kieran McAnulty who spoke to Tararua District Mayor Tracey Collis on the issue, on behalf of a resident.

"Tracey was on the phone straight away to NZTA asking for an assessment of the situation," he said.

Collis confirmed the NZTA had been carrying out a safety assessment of all the pedestrian crossings in Tararua after her phone call.

"We've have varying complaints from Woodville and Pahiatua, as well as Dannevirke and based on the NZTA's recommendations we'll consider our options," she said.

"Mind you, it does help if these incidents are reported to police."

A motorist has told the Dannevirke News there are problems with people not stopping and looking both ways before stepping out onto crossings.

"All of a sudden they are there and on one occasion recently I had to stop suddenly and ended up with a truck up my backside," she said.

With heavy traffic along Dannevirke's High St on the Friday before Labour weekend, Collis admitted it was "challenging" crossing the street.

"The traffic flow through Dannevirke that day was phenomenal," she said.

Ramsden, who regularly travels on a mobility scooter said he also has problems crossing the road by the Denmark/Allardice St corner.

"Cars park too close to the intersection and I can't see down the road," he said.

"I realise this is a legal carpark, but people don't think about the poor beggar on a mobility scooter. I have to get out onto the road to see and one day I'm going to pull out and there will be a car coming."

Ramsden said, like a lot of elderly people, he has a hearing problem which compounds the problem.

"Now I always wear a high-visibility jacket when I'm on my scooter and I reckon I should wear it when I'm on foot on a pedestrian crossing too," he said.