Speed change on Farndon Rd small price to pay for safety, says Hastings resident

Tarryn Penny, here with her son Otis, 2, is happy the speed limit outside their home in Farndon Rd, Kohupatiki, Hastings, is to be reduced from 100km/h to 80km/h. Photo / Duncan Brown

A resident living on Farndon Rd is hailing the council's proposed reduced speed limit on the stretch in Kohupatiki as a good move.

Speaking from her home yesterday Tarryn Penny said she was pleased to hear the council had proposed to adopt a speed limit of 80km, outside of the current 50km/h area, on the 100km/h stretch.

"I know it's going to piss some people off because it will add on a couple of minutes to their commute but I think it's a small price to pay for the number of accidents that have been on this road."

In March last year 18-year-old Tahl Southwick was killed in a crash on Farndon Rd when her car collided with a truck.

The fatal crash was the second in two years, with Jesse Uncles, 21, dying in the back seat of Tyler Walker's unregistered and unwarranted 1997 Mitsubishi Lance Evo 4 in August 2015.

The car, driven by Walker, spun out on a corner of Farndon Rd, smashed into trees and "catapulted" back out of the ditch into the road.

Having lived on the stretch for seven years, Penny said she guessed motorists would end up driving faster than 80km/h, even if the speed limit was reduced.

"People go over 100km/h on this road all the time, whether it's young boys or just the normal commuter, so I think if you drop it down to 80km/h they're probably going to go 90km/h, possibly even 100km/h."

She said it was "crazy" that Pakowhai Rd had a lower speed limit than Farndon Rd.

"It just seems crazy to me that you've got Pakowhai Rd, which is adjacent to us, and it's a big, wide road at 80km/h but you've got this bendy road with a bridge that is 100km/h."

Penny was one of more than 700 people who lodged formal submissions with the Hastings District Council.

Yesterday's recommendations were met with mixed feedback.

Napier resident Larry Cowan, who travels on Farndon Rd twice a day for work, said the proposed reduced speed limit was "rubbish" and accidents were due to driver error.

"It's a good, straight road. There's not a lot of traffic on it and they dropped it down to 80km/h then put it back up to 100km/h."

The council had lowered the speed limit on a 500m stretch of Farndon Rd to 80km/h in March 2014 but it was restored to 100km/h shortly afterwards after public backlash.

Mr Cowan said a reduced speed limit would just be used for ticketing purposes.

"They [reduced the speed] last time and all the cops used it for revenue. They sat along there and pinged everyone doing over 80km/h."

Another Napier resident, who didn't want to be named, said she wasn't happy to hear about the proposed speed limit reduction on Farndon Rd.

"Currently the expressway is a nightmare and I know that won't continue but I go through Farndon Rd all the time and to me there's no issue with it.

"If people pay attention there's no reason why it should be dropped back to 80km/h."

Drains, power poles, driveways, the over bridge and a narrow shoulder were all cited as hazards on Farndon Rd in yesterday's announcement but the resident said she didn't agree.

"If people were watching what they were doing on the road there would be no issue with going into those drains."

"It's just ridiculous that we've got 100km/h then 80km/h. We've got that many different speeds throughout that it just doesn't make sense to put yet another change in there."