‘Scary stuff': Locals on crash corner fear it will take a death to get it fixed

RNZ News

4 days ago

A car crashed into the retaining wall of Mike's Courtney Rd home
Photo:
LDR / supplied
Locals on a busy Tauranga street fear someone will die before anything substantial is done to improve safety on a bend notorious for crashes.
Three times in the past year, a car has ploughed into the retaining wall of Mike's home on Courtney Rd in Gate Pā.
Courtney Rd runs between two shopping centres on Cameron Rd and Fraser St, with Mike's house on a hill between two corners.
The street has a long history of crashes. Mike, who didn't want his surname published, said he lived there for 16 years. In that time, he said, four crashes had done damage and there'd been countless smaller accidents, including cars mounting the kerb.
Last year, before Mike moved out, he had just got out of his ute when a car came through the retaining wall. A few seconds earlier, and it would have crushed his leg.
Mike said his tenant and her child were narrowly missed by a car in one recent crash, and he is worried someone will be killed.
It was "pretty scary stuff", and Mike said his tenants lived in fear of being hit.
In an accident years ago, a car hit the wall with so much force that blocks went flying and broke house windows, he said.
"We can't get insurance on that wall, because these pricks keep going through it."
His insurance had gone up and he had to cover the cost of repairs if the driver or their insurance company didn't pay, he said.
Mike wants Tauranga City Council to extend a metal safety barrier from the corner toward his property to improve safety but has been told it's too expensive.
"Is it going to take somebody to die to do something?"
Another crash that damaged a streetlight and trees of a home in Courtney Rd in Gate Pā.
Photo:
LDR / supplied
Mike's property manager, Toni Cranston, wrote to the council after the tenants threatened to leave because of the crashes.
Cranston contacted the council several times, asking it to extend the safety barrier or put speed bumps on the street, but she too was told there wasn't a budget for the safety measures.
The last three major crashes happened between 3pm and 4pm when children were walking home from school, she said. There were five schools in the area.
"There's a lot of traffic going through there, and it's a really sharp, ugly bend that can change very quickly, especially when you're not paying attention.
"The concern for the tenants, the owners, the people in that community, and obviously the schools around, is that if one of these cars does hit a child, you're calling death.
"They're always speeding, so you're almost guaranteeing a death."
Cranston also contacted the police, asking them to have more of a presence on the street to discourage speeding and dangerous driving.
Mike's neighbour Steve Kelly said he was lucky his house had never been hit.
"It's just been pure luck that nobody's actually been taken out or seriously injured."
He agreed extending the barrier would protect pedestrians and the homes.
"For the small cost that it would cost the council to stick in 10m of fence and posts - a bit of a barrier - it could be lifesaving."
Kelly said traffic had increased on Courtney Rd since 2020 as people used it as a shortcut between Cameron Rd and Fraser St, with the problem expected to worsen with a new housing development nearby.
The council's acting safety and sustainability manager, Karen Hay, said that because of the high cost of physical safety measures, the council evaluated requests based on vehicle speeds, traffic volumes, accessibility, and crash data.
This was to ensure all safety concerns were addressed fairly and equitably, she said.
"Areas where deaths or serious injuries have occurred are given higher priority."
Two non-injury crashes and one minor-injury crash had been reported on the Courtney Rd bend in the past five years, said Hay.
But the council relied on crash data from police, and they did not attend all incidents, she said.
After an investigation, lower-cost safety improvements were planned for installation in August or September, Hay said.
These were a centre line, "slow down" road markings, reflective chevron boards and a speed advisory sign of 25km/h on the downhill approach to the corner, where the issues were most prevalent.
"We are confident these will help the current situation, and the situation will be monitored."
The median barrier could be extended, but it would need to be prioritised for future consideration, she said.
Traffic volumes on Courtney Rd had steadily increased over time, Hay said.
The average daily traffic count increased from 6080 vehicles in 2008 to 7870 in 2023, with an average speed of 43.9km/h in 2023.
In 2024, it was 7272 vehicles with an average speed of 43.5km/h.
These speeds were well within a "reasonable range" of the 50km/h limit, Hay said.
Police said the local road policing team were not aware of any requests for more regular patrolling in the area.
With two of the recent crashes, police said, the drivers were not over the speed limit, but they were going too fast around a sharp corner.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.