Auckland residents' worst fears realised, as woman killed at blackspot

Friday, 11 May 2018

Residents, a local MP and a school are calling for more signaled crossings on Oteha Valley Rd following a recent fatality.

For seven years, Oteha Valley School has been battling with Auckland Transport to get a crossing installed nearby, so its students could get to school safely: Now someone has died there.

North Shore woman Christine Ovens, 56, was hit by a car and died last month while crossing a stretch of Oteha Valley Rd that has seen 11 crashes in the past five years.

'We've asked for flashing lights, we've asked for signs, but, for some reason we haven't got any of those. I'm not really sure why,' principal Rose Neal said.

Oteha Valley School fought for years to have a kea crossing installed outside its gates on Fields Pde. Although a win for the school, principal Rose Neal says a signaled crossing needs to be installed on Oteha Valley Rd for the safety of her students following numerous near misses.

Neal said she often received calls from motorists who said they had nearly hit students crossing Oteha Valley Rd.

**READ MORE:

Christine Ovens, 56, died when she was hit by a car on Oteha Valley Road on Auckland's North Shore on Thursday, April 12. There have been 11 crashes on the same stretch of Oteha Valley Rd in the past five years.

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Residents of Harrowglen Drive are calling for a 'one-stop solution' of traffic lights and a signalled pedestrian crossing to be installed at the intersection with Oteha Valley Rd following a recent fatality.

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Contractors are currently installing another signalled pedestrian crossing near Rising Pde on Oteha Valley Road, but Oteha Valley School principal Rose Neal says one needs to be installed closer to the school gates.

'It's an accident waiting to happen. We don't want to have another fatality. We don't want another family losing someone they love.'

The primary school of 510 pupils had also been forced to cancel its walking school bus due to a lack of safe crossings.

In the past five years there have been 11 crashes reported along Oteha Valley Rd between East Coast Rd and Medallion Drive.

'It is devastating that it takes a fatality to get some more traction on an issue that we've really been trying hard to get traction on for quite some time,' Georgina Dew, a parent and board of trustees chairwoman, said.

Auckland Transport had been progressing plans to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists on Oteha Valley Road, Joanna Glasswell, senior media adviser for walking, cycling and road safety, said.

Those plans included a new two-lane road, including a new bridge, with footpaths and cycle facilities, linking Fairview Ave with Oteha Valley Rd, with work starting in the summer of 2019.

Glasswell said following Ovens death, AT was also investigating the suitability of installing a crossing between East Coast Rd and Rising Pde.

Residents of Harrowglen Drive, who lived 550 metres away from where Ovens died and who were just beginning the battle for a crossing, also feared another fatality would occur and had met with local MP Erica Stanford to try and get action.

Catherine Liu, who was part of a group of 10 residents who had met with Stanford, said it was the time to ask for help: 'We don't want to see this happen again.'

Liu, who had lived in Harrowglen Drive for five years, said the group wanted to see a 'one-stop solution' of traffic lights and a signalled pedestrian crossing installed at the intersection with Oteha Valley Rd.

'We need to do something.'