Residents in south Auckland are sick of the “absolutely out of control” speeding on their roads, and say Auckland Transport needs to take action or more people will die.
Randwick Park residents in Manurewa have been trying for years to get speed bumps and other speed calming measures on their roads.
A teenager died in a crash in December, just a few months after residents spoke out about their safety concerns.
Speeding and burnouts were a regular occurrence on Riverton Rd, Hyperion Dr and Magic Way, with drivers using streets like “racing tracks”, residents said.
At a residents’ meeting on Monday, the community was told AT did not have money for the project.
However, AT said funding decisions were complex and, while there was limited funding available, it was looking into the matter.
Resident Faenza Paul said speeding has become extremely dangerous.
Last December, a teenager died in a single-vehicle crash on Hyperion Dr just a few metres from her home. Police confirmed speed was a factor.
“It is absolutely out of control,” Paul said.
“Do we have to wait for more people to die, kids, for something to be done?”
A teacher at Randwick Park School saida car drove through the school’s 1.8m metal fence last Saturday night, and crashed into the pool changing shed.
She said it was fortunate the accident didn’t occur during the day, when students were at school, using the pool.
“It’s an accident just waiting to happen,” she said.
“There’s just way too much speeding in the area.”
She was concerned about student safety, with road safety signs lacking around their school.
“We’re fighting for something that should already be put in place.
“Surely, signs and pedestrian crossings should be standard practice at schools across New Zealand?”
Manurewa Local Board chairman Matt Winiata said the board understood the residents’ frustration.
The local board was putting forward $527,000, diverted from another project, because it believed in the urgency of the issue, he said.
AT head of road safety engineering and community transport safety Michael Brown said the agency took these safety concerns seriously, and was working through potential solutions.
“However, with limited funding and requests being received across Auckland we need to ensure a robust prioritisation process.”
Brown said AT would contact Randwick Park School to see if there were some “quick wins or some low-cost interventions” that could be installed near the school.
“These types of interventions will not address poor driver behaviour, and we continue to partner with NZ Police to address these types of behaviours.”
AT recently installed “slow” markings on Riverton Dr and would iput the same markings on Hyperion Dr in the next few weeks, Brown said.
“AT has a specific fund to improve safety around schools. This fund is limited to small reactive changes like signage and road markings, but it has been well received by schools across Auckland.
“We are more than happy to meet with the school to discuss their concerns, and to see if we can help in addition to the raised pedestrian crossings already existing at the two entrances of the school.”
Brown said, with the local board, AT would also develop a scheme to include a raised speed table on Riverton Drive, at the intersection with Porchester Rd, while continuing to explore potential, longer-term solutions.
“AT is aware of anti-social driving issues in the Randwick Park area and has been investigating a number of options to help prevent this.
“AT has also been working closely with the Manurewa Local Board to look at solutions.”
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
