By JO-MARIE BROWN
Taupo's coroner has ruled that an urgent safety review is needed at a lakefront cliff edge where 62 people have fallen in the past 10 years.
Coroner Morna McFarlane said the death of Wellington builder Greig Warner, who fell and broke his neck last December, highlighted the
dangers of the cliff and the need to make Taupo's visitors aware of the 12m drop.
Every year, particularly over the festive season, people drinking in bars and cafes cross the road to the lakefront and step over the chain fence to urinate in the bushes.
Most suffer minor injuries or broken bones, but since Mr Warner's death the Taupo District Council has upgraded the fence, installed more warning signs and cleared bush growth to show the cliff is there.
Ms McFarlane endorsed the council's actions but said she was certain that it had not solved the problem.
"The test will come in December 2003 and the Taupo community cannot adopt a 'wait and see' approach until then."
In a reserved decision on the circumstances of Mr Warner's death, the coroner urged the council to reconsider the fencing arrangements and inspect it at night to assess whether it was adequate.
"Will the improved barrier stop a young person crossing it in darkness? If not, then a more substantial barrier needs to be erected as a matter of urgency."
But the district council's community and recreation manager, Jean-Paul Gaston, said that since the inquest in March further improvements to the fence had been made and he was confident it was now satisfactory.
A council committee would tomorrow consider spending $20,000 to install extra lights along the most problematic 150m stretch. "What we're hoping is that people won't want to go across there to pee off the cliff if the area is floodlit," Mr Gaston said.
Other recommendations, such as arranging security patrols of the area during weekends and holidays, had already been implemented and a landscaping plan to replace the sheer drop with a terraced bank was being considered.
"There's no way you can completely reduce the risk but I think we've gone further than many of the coroner's recommendations to make it as safe as reasonably possible."
