13 June 2019

I attended the crash on Isle Rd this morning and spoke to some residents about their concerns in the area.

Volume of traffic

Residents have said the high volume of traffic on Te Ngae Rd has meant people have been taking the side roads - Warwick, Isle, Tarawera, Selwyn - has now become more of a "major road" with the number of people using it. They said they only expected it to get worse with the work on the roundabout set to continue.

- Is the Lynmore area and these roads a place council are looking to make changes? What will these be and when are they expected to come?

-Are these roads of concern for the council?

Hoons

They have also said the roads are dangerous for residents with the number of people speeding down those streets. They said the lack of speed bumps only adds to this problem. A woman who home schools her children said she worries about them going onto the street. Two people, one on Isle and one on Selwyn said police chases had ended up crashing into their fences. Another said people drag racing and doing skids were also very common.

- Has the council received any calls about boy racers or similar kind of careless driving in the area? How much has that been since last year?

-How many complaints has the council received on the roads in the Lynmore area, around those streets?

-What is the council doing to address the problem of boy racers?

-How does/will this be monitored?

-Will the council be putting in any speed bumps?

- Will the council be reducing the speed and if so to what?

-How does/ would these be monitored.

From Infrastructure Group Manager Stavros Michael

"We are aware that the volume of traffic on Te Ngae Road is causing congestion. Work to improve the Eastern Corridor will be undertaken by NZTA and this work is expected to reduce traffic pressures in the area. As Te Ngae Road is a state highway under the control of NZTA, traffic management during construction will be the responsibility of NZTA and their appointed contractor. Council has to date received no requests for state highway traffic to be diverted onto Council's local roads.

"Council has received requests to review the speed limit along the urban section of Tarawera Road. This will be reviewed following completion of the Whakarewarewa Forest developments and the completion of work NZTA is doing at the Tarawera Road and Te Ngae Road intersection. The process to review and change a speed limit was explained in our response to you last week.

"We have also received one request regarding traffic volumes and speeds on Selwyn Road and one regarding pedestrian safety on Larcy Road. In this area, during the past couple of years there has been an overall traffic volume increase of around 7% which is consistent with the land development and increased housing in the area. As part of our future traffic management planning, we are undertaking actual speed measurements that will inform our future speed reviews.

"Last year we worked with residents of Butler Place regarding their concerns about boy racers. This resulted in improved lighting and increased monitoring of the area. However as this is a public road, access cannot be restricted by Council. Road behaviour enforcement sits with the Police whom we work closely with to monitor the situation.

"The roads you have mentioned, Warwick Drive, Iles Road, and Selwyn Road, all have residential speed limits of 50k/h and there is currently no evidence that average driving speeds in these streets exceed 50k/h.

"At this point in time we don't believe interventions such as speed bumps would be an appropriate solution to deter individual driver behaviour in the area and may, in fact, have the potential to do more harm than good. Any future safety measures will be carefully considered in terms of appropriateness for the area.

"The enforcement of speed limits is the responsibility of Police and when road safety is identified as a contributing factor to a crash we work closely with Police to determine what improvements can or should be made.

"If residents witness unsafe and careless driving we strongly encourage them to report this to the Police.

"Members of the public or communities can request that road safety concerns be considered by Council at any time."