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A Leigh mother and her two small children are counting their blessings after the car they were travelling in left the road at a slip on Leigh Road, near Upper Whangateau Road, which locals say they have been complaining about for 18 months.
The mother was taking her two sons, aged four and six, to a doctor’s appointment on Friday afternoon, June 21, when one of the boys started to vomit.
Husband Tim Barry said his wife slowed to almost a standstill so she could hand a bowl to her son, but in that moment of distraction, drove too close to the white line above the slip.
“There were no cones on the road to warn her and by the time she realised, the back wheels were going over,” Barry said. “The car rolled three times. The boys were strapped in and I have no doubt those safety belts saved their lives.”
Days after the event, Barry was still angry that it happened at all.
The slip is encroaching on to the road and there is no room for error. Someone will die here soon if it is not repaired.
Leigh fire chief Kevin Lawton
“If our community leaders are serious about road safety and saving lives, rather than revenue gathering, this slip would have been fixed a year ago.”
Adding insult to injury, Barry rang Auckland Transport (AT) hoping to talk to someone about what had happened and the urgent need to fix the road, but couldn’t get any further than a customer service officer.
“I couldn’t even speak to a real person.”
An AT spokesperson said contractor Downer regularly reviewed all slip sites.
“The road in this location is considered stable and the slip is not affecting vehicle access,” she said.
“More than 2000 slips occurred on Auckland’s road network in January and February last year, and 800-plus sites needed additional repair work.
“Of the 826 minor and major repairs needed across Auckland, 66 per cent have been completed. This is made up of 36 per cent of major sites and 79 per cent of minor sites. In the north rural area, which includes Leigh, there were 326 sites, with 11 currently in construction. A total of 292 (90 per cent) have been completed.
“This slip is on the list of slips to be repaired this year. The design work is done and AT is currently confirming pricing.”
In the meantime, new delineator posts have been put up to alert drivers. Caution advisory signs will also be added for extra awareness.
The state of the road also drew the ire of Leigh Volunteer Fire Brigade chief Kevin Lawton, who attended the retrieval of the car.
“It’s disgusting that the road has been left in this state for the past 18 months,” Lawton said. “The slip is encroaching onto the road and there is no room for error. Someone will die here soon if it is not repaired.”
Barry said his wife was mentally feeling very fragile after the accident.
“You just can’t escape the ‘what ifs’,” he said. “My wife keeps replaying it over in her head. It’s been pretty stressful for the whole family.”
AT advised that it could not provide information on the number of complaints that it had received about the slip without an Official Information Request.
Busy road
The average daily traffic volume (weekdays) on Leigh Road in May this year was 2104 vehicles a day. But during Christmas holidays (December 2023), the average weekday volume reached 4379 vehicles a day.
