An opinion poll indicates that people are unhappy about safety for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians in Bakehouse Lane, Ōrewa, despite the fact that no accidents have been recorded there in the last five years.
Coast People and Penlink (Hibiscus & Bays Local board chair Gary Brown and members Andy Dunn and Leanne Willis) ran a poll which received nearly 60 responses in a week.
Gary says of these, only three were happy with Bakehouse Lane.
“The rest said it was dangerous and that they had seen minor accidents there,” he says.
Minor accidents are not reported to Police and therefore don’t show up in the figures supplied to Auckland Transport (AT).
Gary says he has seen numerous near accidents and one actual accident in a short space of time.
“These were caused by the narrowness of the road. Our research revealed that Bakehouse Lane does not meet AT’s own minimum width requirements for two way traffic.”
An Auckland Transport spokesperson says that for new roads, the minimum width for two-way traffic is around 6m across the road, between parked cars.
Gary has measured Bakehouse Lane at around 5m, or a bit less, “depending on how well people park”.
Coast People want AT to make the road one-way, from the direction of Moana Ave, retaining all the car parks, which they think would make it safer.
“AT says this would encourage drivers to speed, so we suggested speed humps could be put in to solve that,” Gary says.
The poll remains open on Coast People and Penlink’s facebook page and Gary says they will keep pushing AT, using the results as an indication of what residents want.
