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A Snells Beach mother is calling on Auckland Transport to install a pedestrian crossing on Mahurangi East Road, near Dalton Road, before there is a fatality.
Anouska Brown, who lives on the road, started lobbying for the crossing a year ago after witnessing a near-miss.
“I was in my car and stopped to let a child cross, when another car came down the hill and overtook me and went straight through without stopping,” she says. “The child was lucky not to have been hit.
“I took the car’s licence plate and reported it to the police, but they said they couldn’t do anything because it didn’t happen at a crossing.
“I know of other people who have seen similar near-misses. I don’t want Council to wait until a person is killed or injured, before they do something.”
Brown says the section of Mahurangi East Road near Dalton Road is used by Snells Beach School students and Mahurangi College students who catch the bus to school, as well as the general public.
Snells Beach School principal Kathryn Ramel says the school board has lobbied Auckland Transport on a number of occasions.
“We have been told it is in planning, in the near future,” she says. “We are delighted that parents and community members are also campaigning for this crossing.
“It is a natural route for kids to take down one of the main access ways to the beach and we cross as a school at that spot when classes go to the beach.”
Brown says she has received written support from both schools, as well as the Snells Beach Residents & Ratepayers Association and a mother involved in the walking bus.
“Board member Beth Houlbrooke has been very supportive and is pushing for it to be included in a budget for the next financial year.”
Brown says she would like to see a raised crossing, similar to the one outside Horizon School, which was built after a child was hit by a car.
She says her own children don’t need to cross the road to get to school, but there are many children who do.
“Something needs to happen sooner rather than later. Traffic on the road is increasing a lot of cars really speed down that hill.”
