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12/06/2012
Patumahoe Village Inc
C/ Paula Crosswell
84 Day Rd, Patumahoe
RD 4 Pukekohe 2679
Email: [email protected]:
www.patumahoe.org.nz
To Auckland Council & Local Board
Cc Mayor Len Brown, Penny Hulse, Claire Dixon, Dina Hanna, Irene
Tse , Andy Baker & all Local Board
members.
We ask that Auckland Council review the recently erected 3 x 2
barriers in our Village as part of a
wider review of traffic safety and traffic flow in our Village.
While what has been put in place is
probably well intentioned, it has focused just on one group and
point in the Village, (Patumahoe
School). In our opinion the resulting changes have increased the
likelihood of death and serious
injury in our Village. The planning appears to be reactionary on
a one issue basis and not taken intoaccount overall traffic safety
and flow for Patumahoe Village.
We would ask that in reviewing the 6 structures now in place
that AC
1 Consult with us.2 Consider overall Village traffic planning.
(Not just the 1 narrow question of how to slow
traffic down around our school).
The main issue is that the barriers create a significant road
narrowing and a hazard for cyclists
sharing the road with cars & trucks. Some images are shown
below:
Patumahoe 6 new Road Narrowings and Signage
Speed Camera
Background
1 Auckland Unleashed We note that Auckland Council with Auckland
Unleashed haveembraced the concept of including Communities. This
is welcomed in Patumahoe
where we have an active Village Group allowing easy
communication with our
community.
2 Trend to encourage other forms of transport We share Councils
position on the futurewith having communities less dependent on
cars and more cycle / walking / public
transport friendly. For example in Patumahoe there has been a
large increase in locals
biking. Also Patumahoe is regularly frequented by large groups
of cyclists from Auckland
in the weekend. They come out here to enjoy the lower traffic
densities.
Main Crossing area + School
Patrol. (We hear that the
striped pole is coming
down that will make the
barrier hazard less visible).
Barrier/narrowing
and sign at Village
end of school
Barrier/narrowing at
Pukekohe end of
School leading to
blind corner - 3m
only to centre line
Same barrier showing
how narrow. (3m either
side of centre line).
These 2 narrowings are
in a 70km/hr zone
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3 Major Hazard Tamaki Drive is New Zealands most dangerous road.
This is primarilybecause of parked cars and narrow roads combined
with traffic. This results in a lot of
cyclists getting killed or seriously injured. There is only room
for one vehicle in each
direction and in parts visibility is limited. ThWhile we do not
yet have the traffic densities
the erected barriers in Patumahoe to some degree replicate this.
We have been advised
that in Patumahoe the barriers are no wider than a parked car so
what is the problem.
Do we need the equivalent hazard of 6 parked cars 24/7 that are
not even as easilyvisible as a parked car?
4 International Trends Internationally for Traffic Calming there
is a move away from simplyputting in barriers to try and slow down
traffic. The reason for this is perhaps best
summed up from this extract from Wikipedia re Traffic Calming:
However, some UK
and Irish "traffic calming" schemes, particularly involving road
narrowings, are viewed as
extremely hostile and have been implicated directly in death and
injury to cyclists.
5 Planning appears reactionary From the barriers appearing about
a year ago there hasalready been 1 change with the central 2
barriers being made wider. There is we
understand a further change coming with the striped poles being
removed at the central
2 barriers. This will make them less visible to motorists. It
reinforces our conclusion
about the planning being reactionary and failing to consider
overall traffic safety andflow through our Village.
6 Traffic Calming OptionsThere are many ways of slowing down
traffic besides putting inbarriers. Some of the more standard
options are shown below. There are also many
other tools available that are for instance contained in the
likes of the book Mental
Speed Bumps by David Engwight.
Some options available in the toolkit for traffic calming
without the need for road narrowings
At a recent Community Village meeting none of those attending
agreed that what has been put in
place has made our roads safer. All signed a copy of this letter
agreeing that the main road was now
more dangerous in their opinion.
Speed Camera.
Very effective
at reducing
speed
Defined narrower
lane for cars. More
room for bikes and
others
Good Signage
Similar to
Patumahoe
Zebra Crossing.
More rights to pedestrians.
(There are at least 4 in Tuakau
whose 2006 census equates toPatumahoes current
residential zoning).
