Katikati businessmen's plea to speeding truckies

Katikati businessman Glynn Peters, Ian Wood and Rob Holding watch traffic speeding into Katikati township every day. Photo/Chris Steel

A group of Katikati businessmen are concerned about the speed at which trucks are thundering into town and not slowing down by the time they reach the 50km/h sign on State Highway 2.

Glynn Peters from Go Computers on Main Road says it's not just trucks, it's almost every car.

"People are not even slowing down when you come out of the driveway."

Ian Wood has the car sales yard at the south end of town on the corner of SH2 and Marshall Road. He says the number of people who come at speed and the intensity of traffic, "it's so fast I often hear horns and screeches of brakes."

Katikati Christian Centre Pastor Rob Holding says he rings 0800LOGTRUCK at least once a week.

"If I can catch the name on the side of the truck I will ring the company and ask them to 'encourage' their drivers to slow down." And the local truckies are just as bad, he says, "but it is everybody."

Holding exits from Henry Road onto SH2 regularly and has seen a few near misses.

"I was turning right into Henry Road and a car coming out of Marshall Road turning right, pulled out in front of me. They just go when there's a gap because of the intensity of the traffic."

He says there used to be a speed camera by Countdown supermarket. Rob believes if the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) was to put an 80km/h sign by Wharawhara Road this would help slow traffic.

Katikati police Sergeant Steve Hindmarsh says the police have had a complaint about trucks speeding through town at night and in early hours of the morning.

"We did have highway patrol units doing some early morning patrols which did catch a few."

Hindmarsh says they can do some policing of it, but it is more about educating drivers to slow down.

"Sometimes the signs are too close to the town. It seems to take a little bit of time for drivers to react."

He says if people feel strongly enough about traffic speeding they could get names together in the form of a petition to send to NZTA outlining their concerns and suggestions or they could contact their local MP.

"The more noise that is made, the more likely something can be done about it.