Rotorua residents fear “someone’s going to get hurt one day” after reports of motorcyclists driving “dangerously” in Fordlands.
It has prompted a Fordlands resident to hold an informal gathering on Friday afternoon at the Ruth St reserve for whānau living in Fordlands and the surrounding areas with safety concerns regarding motorbikes.
Meanwhile, police say they have noticed an increase in “dangerous motorbike riding” in the area and were disappointed riders were putting themselves and the public at risk.
In August, the Rotorua Daily Post reported a 70-year-old woman walking in Rotorua was allegedly nearly mowed down by a trail biker rider who came within metres of hitting her.
And another incident in August left a 12-year-old girl in tears after a trail biker chanting gang slogans almost ran her down deliberately while she was on a training run.
Meadowbank Cres resident Holly Tamai-Werahiko said this week she had safety concerns for kids walking or riding their bikes.
“And then you get these idiots that are coming up and down ... zooming up and down [and doing] wheelies.”
Tamai-Werahiko said her house was “pretty much fenced off”.
“I do not let my grandchildren out the gate. They cannot play beside the road.”
Tamai-Werahiko said on one occasion, she was driving along her road when she saw someone on a “very noisy” motorcycle doing a wheelie and “scaring the s*** out of a poor man who was mowing his lawn”.
“This man was an elderly man ... and this little critter goes and does the fingers to him.”
Asked how regularly this was happening, she said she worked full-time but it was four or five times each evening and night.
“I don’t know what’s been going on during the day,” she said.
“And then you get a bunch of them that are zooming past, standing on top of their seats ... and if it’s not that, it’s cars doing wheelies.”
She said the noise from the motorcyclists was “deafening” and had woken her up.
Tamai-Werahiko, who was “born and bred” in Fordlands, had seen three motorcyclists in the area.
“We’ve all just had enough.”
Mangakakahi resident Celestina Aolele-Grant, who lived near Linton Park, also had safety concerns for children in the area, as well as the riders.
“Someone’s going to get hurt one day.”
She said the intimidation from the motorcyclists was “horrible” and happening every day.
“Me and my husband were travelling home on Sunday after church and there was one in front of us who just wheelied all the way up Sunset Rd, just intimidating cars.”
Asked what she would like to see happen, she said “maybe their elders could get them all together and just have a talk to them”.
“They’re not going to listen to anybody, but they will listen to their elders.”
Aolele-Grant estimated the riders were aged between 16 and 24.
Fordlands Community Centre programme manager Maraea Pomana said it had been a problem for a “long time”.
“They’re doing wheelies, they don’t wear helmets, they just drive dangerously.
“When they do it late at night, it’s just hard on everyone because we’ve got to go to work; especially with people with new babies ... you’re getting woken out of your sleep.”
Pomana said the centre had met with the council about a year and a half ago to discuss installing judder bars in the area.
Fordlands resident Isa Starr said she was hosting the gathering on Friday to address whether they could find community solutions to help support police “to get these youth out of the neighbourhoods”.
Starr said there was an incident about two weeks ago behind her home where a community member had cleaned up a bank and motorcyclists went down and “completely trashed the reserve”.
A police spokeswoman said Rotorua police had noticed an increase in “dangerous motorbike riding” in the area and were disappointed to know riders were putting themselves and members of the public at risk.
“We acknowledge this type of offending causes concern and harm in our community and it will not be tolerated.
“Safer roads is one of our priorities and police will do our best to investigate these incidents and hold those responsible to account.”
Anyone who witnessed dangerous driving was asked to contact the police by calling 111 if it was happening now or 105 after the fact. People can also contact Crime Stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online.
Police also reminded owners to keep their bikes secure.
“When you first buy your bike, please ensure that you record its serial number and take a photo of the bike.”
Rotorua Lakes Council infrastructure and environment deputy chief executive, Stavros Michael, said it received requests for traffic calming interventions such as speed humps “on an almost weekly basis”.
“We have a limited budget and resources for such work and we have to operate a priority list based on assessed risk.
“All the requests we receive are assessed for risk based on a number of factors, including speed data, speed-related crashes, pedestrian use and traffic volumes on that particular road.”
Michael said the data used to calculate a “priority score” enabled the road to be ranked in terms of its known risk for installing traffic calming interventions, “which do not necessarily include speed judder bars”.
These assessments helped the council to form an ongoing safety work programme, Michael said.
In Fordlands, traffic calming had been installed on Meadowbank Crescent and Edmund Road, which were identified as locations of elevated risk, Michael said.
For Bellingham Crescent, the council had received three requests in the past two years.
“However, Bellingham is not yet prioritised for traffic calming.
“Over the last few months, there has been feedback on dangerous use of motorbikes on the roads and shared paths in this area, which is an issue that needs to be reported to the police. Speed bumps are not the only solution to speeding motorcycles.”