55 years of fear: Why a Rotorua woman can finally sleep peacefully at night

Kim Richards (left) and Aroha Bray next to the new safety barrier. Photo / Supplied

The sound of cars crashing is like a broken record for Rotorua's Kim Richards.

She estimates about 30 cars have crashed on the front lawn of the Ngongotahā property she and her family have called home for 55 years, since she was 5 years old.

Now after years lobbying, a safety barrier is finally being installed in front of her home
to ensure Richards no longer has to live in fear.

Her home sits on a bend on Ngongotahā Rd, State Highway 36. The property is about 150m from a point where the speed limit drops from 80km/h to 50km/h.

Over the years, cars have taken out her fence, run down her trees and one had even flipped on to her front lawn.

"You can feel it before it's about to happen. A car that is about to crash sounds very different ... the fear of hearing that noise keeps me up at night," she told the 'Rotorua Daily Post'.

A car that smashed through Kim Richard's property in 2016. Photo / Supplied

Growing up, Richards said she had seen crashes getting more severe as cars got faster and drugs and alcohol became more common.

Most of the time the crashes were minor and the cars quickly drove away, meaning there was no official record of it, she said.

However, there had been at least a dozen more serious ones. Many of her neighbours had simply packed up and left because of the high number of crashes.

After one crash, a steel pole had once flown into a neighbour's kitchen while the woman was feeding her grandchild. She packed up within weeks.

However, moving was never an option for Richards.

She had lived in that home all of her life and the house belonged to her parents.

Kim Richards (left) and Aroha Bray next to the new safety barrier. Photo / Supplied

One day she hoped to pass the home on to her own children, but had not felt comfortable doing so before something was done.

Sleepless nights, high blood pressure and constantly living in fear of a worse crash than the last had been Richard's reality for as long as she could remember.

Then just last month, she received the email she had been waiting on for more than a decade.

The NZ Transport Agency had secured funding and was starting the installation of the safety barriers.

"I was so excited that it was finally happening ... I can finally feel safe and at ease,

"The grandchildren can play in the yard again like I used too."

She said the barriers would change her life in such a positive way.

In 2018 alone - Richards' property was subject to three crashes and her insurance company even increased her premiums as they were constantly replacing the fence.

The new safety barrier had been installed outside Richards' home on Ngongotahā Rd. Photo / Supplied

That same year, after pleas from Richards, NZTA installed reflective arrows on the bend but this made little difference as crashes continued to end up on her doorstep.

Aroha Bray, former Waiariki MP and Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell's electoral agent, was approached by Richards for something to be done about "the problem corner" near her home.

She jumped on board and began rallying to build the safety barriers.

"I could see it was taking a toll on her ... we needed to do something."

She said she was thrilled to hear that after four years "the wait was over" and barriers were being installed.

NZTA Bay of Plenty system manager Rob Campbell said the installation of safety barriers on a section of State Highway 36 had been completed last week.

He said Richards had first raised her concerns in 2017.

This was one of a number of important safety projects around the country, but they needed to prioritise the timing of projects so they could make the biggest difference in reducing deaths and serious injuries, he said.

There were processes and consultations that needed to take place before they were able to begin the process, that was the reason for the long delay, he said.