Shahni Judkins and her family are in constant fear someone will be seriously injured or killed on the road outside their home. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Shahni Judkins and her family are in constant fear someone will be seriously injured or killed on the road outside their home. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Shahni Judkins and her family are losing sleep and are in constant fear someone will be seriously injured or killed if the road layout on a corner outside their home is not changed.
The mother of two lives with her family on the corner of Boundary Rd and Korau Rd,Tikipunga, and over the past three weeks there have been six incidents where vehicles have failed to take the corner and ended up on the grass verge.
There have been plenty more over the past three years with one vehicle smashing through the fence and ending up in the front yard last November.
The latest terrifying incident happened in the dark early on Saturday morning when a four-wheel-drive lost traction, skidded across the lawn and came to a stop just millimetres from a newly built wooden fence.
The four people in the vehicle were not injured but the vehicle was a write-off with a snapped drive shaft.
"We are losing sleep and it is affecting our mental health, living in constant fear. For everyone's safety the road layout needs changing or for my family's safety and sanity a metal barrier needs to be erected around the corner," Judkins said.
"I don't even like to use my front garden for fear that a car will come through while I am out there. I am constantly terrified that another car is going to come through my fence and one of my family is going to be on the other side of it and will be seriously injured if not killed if the road layout is not changed. I also worry for other motorists and pedestrians that are not prepared."
New signs have not helped slow traffic on a residential street in Tikipunga. Photo / Supplied
In a bid to create a safety barrier Judkins has put a row of concrete blocks on the verge. She believed they might have slowed the latest vehicle enough to stop it destroying her fence.
Judkins has stepped up her bid to get something done and on Sunday wrote to Whangārei MP Shane Reti and Labour's Kelvin Davis explaining urgent action was needed on the corner. She invited the politicians to come and look at the corner she described as "sweeping with lots of slippery white paint".
She believed the road camber was wrong which resulted in most, if not all, drivers going over the white painted lines.
"This is also a safety issue for the residents who live down the end of Boundary Rd who need to turn right and go across these lines as they are often met by vehicles coming towards them. Some have reported to me that they have had many near misses."
She said the safest option was to make it a T-intersection with a stop or give way sign and do away with the sweeping corner.
"If the council will not do this then I am asking that they please erect a metal guardrail around my house so that my family and I are safe."
Last April Judkins alerted the Whangārei District Council to her concerns and asked if they could improve the safety of the corner for the nearby neighbours.
In December Hilary Malcolm, customer service administrator for Roading Northland Transportation Alliance, confirmed the senior traffic safety engineer had been advised that council would lengthen the white line on Boundary Rd, because this was known to slow traffic.
"We will also be adding two 25km urban chevrons at the corners. Both of these measures have a beneficial effect of slowing vehicles down," Malcolm said.
The work had been done but made no difference, Judkins said.
New signs have not helped slow traffic on a residential street in Tikipunga. Photo / Supplied
Yesterday road safety and traffic engineer Nick Marshall said the council shared Rudkin's concerns about driving in the area, and some safety work had been done at the corner.
"While we can do these things to make the road safer, there is no way for council to control bad drivers. Even so, we will assess the site again and see if there are further measures that can be taken," Marshall said.
Based on the police crash database the corner had only two recorded accidents in the past 11 years. But Marshall said the recent crashes may not be recorded yet, because they could take up to six months to be loaded into the database.
The intersection is rated as low risk according to NZTA's national assessment tool.
Marshall said the council had a list of works on roads that was extensive and it was reassessed constantly as circumstances changed.
"When people contact us with a problem we investigate and assess its priority against other jobs on the list. Sometimes people's requests coincide with a job that has already been listed, and sometimes it is a matter of starting from the beginning. This is a constant process."
