Te Mata Peak Rd crashes: 'You can hear them skidding every corner, every night'

A single car went off Te Mata Peak Rd in the early hours of Friday. Photo / Paul Taylor

Residents of Te Mata Peak Rd are split about how to stop cars careening off the major tourism thoroughfare, but they're united on one thing - they're sick of it.

Police were again called to a car which had crashed on Te Mata Peak Rd near Greenwood Rd at 4.40am on Friday.

There were no injuries, a police spokeswoman said, but photos from the scene showed the driver was lucky their car did not plunge further off the road.

It follows a crash within 100 metres of this one, that left a car hanging precariously against a tree on June 29.

One resident, who did not want to be named, told Hawke's Bay Today that cars speeding and skidding up the road is a nightly occurrence.

"You can hear them skidding every corner, every night.

"Someone will get killed. They're going to hit someone innocent coming the other way.

Just over a month ago a car crashed on the same road after losing control on June 29. Photo / Warren Buckland

"The residents are just getting really sick of it. I've been there eight years, but it's just really escalated recently."

Another resident told Hawke's Bay Today that "poor alignment and surface condition of the road", which is under Hastings District Council's remit, was the issue.

But the first resident disagreed, saying it was pure driver error, and that police presence on the Peak is needed to catch and charge offending drivers.

"They only need to sit up there one night and they'd see heaps. Until they are policing it, people will continue to do it.

She said in her time living on the road she has witnessed about 10 crashes in her area of the road. Two rolled, two ended up in her driveway and she's seen other cars end up down the bank or into a tree.

"Okay, the road is a bit difficult but it's just straight up the Peak. It's straight out drivers.

"I can't see that fixing the road would fix the problem."

A Hastings District Council spokesperson said: "There is a corridor management plan being prepared for Te Mata Peak Rd, which will be considered by council through the Long Term Plan process."