No pedestrian crossing? Then don't stop - Papamoa pedestrian's plea to drivers

Christine Barrett at the new island near Harrison's Cut on Papamoa Beach Rd. Photo / Andrew Warner

A Papamoa resident says overly polite drivers are creating a "dangerous situation" by stopping for pedestrians at a new traffic island on busy Papamoa Beach Rd.

Christine Barrett said the pedestrian refuge island near Harrison's Cut was completed around November.

She was delighted to see it installed because crossing the increasingly busy road over to the beach had become more and more difficult since she moved to Papamoa three years ago.

She has been alarmed, however, to find drivers coming to a sudden stop in the middle of the road to let her walk in front of them, despite them having right of way and no signs indicating they should stop.

"It's so dangerous. It's not a pedestrian crossing - I don't know why people feel the need to stop.

"The other day a car stopped for us but a couple of vehicles behind it was a huge truck - they can't come to a sudden stop at 60km/h."

She was happy to wait a few seconds more for a break in the traffic.

Sergeant Wayne Hunter, acting head of Western Bay road policing, said the message to drivers was simple: "If there is no pedestrian crossing on the road then it is not a pedestrian crossing and you don't need to stop."

He understood some people would stop as a courtesy but said it did present a safety risk although it was not often a cause of crashes.