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ECM Signs owner Leigh Sheehan has created a sign to try to prevent further accidents on the road outside his business.
A number of Warkworth residents are calling for urgent safety improvements to Matakana Road following a spate of car crashes.
Melwood Drive resident Glyn Williams says he has counted seven accidents near the intersection of Matakana Road and Melwood Drive in the past two months. This included a five-car pile up after a truck jack-knifed on the road last month.
He says traffic from the Hill Street intersection is often backed up and cars coming around the blind corners at speed have little time to react to the stationary traffic.
“Auckland Transport (AT) needs to acknowledge that Matakana Road in that area is dangerous and needs serious work,” Mr Williams says.
He has been campaigning for about two years to have the 50kph speed restriction extended to the top of the hill on Matakana Road, before the tight bends begin.
The road was also in poor condition, with a patchwork of pothole repairs and tar seal leaching through the road surface.
“It hasn’t been properly maintained. Every time there’s a shower of rain it turns into an ice rink.”
ECM Signs owner Leigh Sheehan has got creative in a bid to reduce traffic speeds on the stretch of road and “hopefully” protect his business.
On a number of occasions his business premises, along from Melwood Drive on the opposite side of the road, has nearly been hit by cars veering out of control.
He has printed a life-sized sign of an English Policeman holding a speed radar gun to get people to slow down.
“Something has to be done before someone is seriously injured,” Mr Sheehan says.
“The last couple of cars that have gone into the ditch were within five to 10 metres of my business. Other cars have ended up spinning around onto the other side of the road.”
Traffic regularly speeds past at over 100kph on the winding road, he says.
Developer Grant Reddell, who lives on the corner of Melwood Drive and Matakana Road, tried to get the speed limit changed over a decade ago.
Mr Reddell has been developing Northwood Park Estate, off Melwood Drive, which has more than 130 houses. He says he reached an agreement with Rodney District Council to change the speed limit, but Council backtracked on its decision and nothing was done.
“It’s just got worse and worse. I think it’s crazy,” Mr Reddell says.
“Now the area is virtually residential all the way back to the Red Barn. It needs to change.
“I’m deeply concerned for the residents of Northwood. The law of averages says a fatal accident is going to happen there. That would be a very high price to pay to get the speed limit reduced.”
Rodney Local Board member Beth Houlbrooke says she has been trying to get NZTA and AT to make changes to the road for over a year, but has made little progress.
“It’s been so frustrating,” Ms Houlbrooke says. “The rules around speed limits are set by NZTA and they seem to be very inflexible. It seems so inconsistent when you look at Matakana, Whangateau and Point Wells, which all have 50kph limits well before the villages.”
She says NZTA and AT are often not responding to emails and any responses have been inadequate.
“We’ve been fobbed off,” Ms Houlbrooke says.
“We’ve had one on site meeting with an AT road safety engineer, but he didn’t give us much optimism that anything would get done.”
The other issue was there was no 50kph speed limit sign for traffic turning on to Matakana Road from the 60kph zone on SH1.
AT media spokesperson Mark Hannan says AT will continue to monitor the safety of the intersection and the request for an extension to the 50kph zone is still under investigation.
Mr Williams is calling on the public to lodge formal complaints with AT about speed and pedestrian safety on the road.
“The more complaints AT receive the more likely something will get done. It’s the only way we are going to get them off their haunches.”
