A Whangarei Gull Petrol Station worker is calling for the 80km/h speed limit on a strip of highway outside where she works to be reduced following a serious crash at an intersection she says is "deadly".
Savana Leonard has been working at the Gull petrol station, on the corner of Raumanga's Tauroa St and State Highway 1, for four months. She said a head-on collision at the intersection yesterday, just before 4pm, was one of about four crashes that had happened at the intersection in the past month. "It's honestly so deadly. I get scared pulling out of there. I end up turning left with the traffic and swinging around once I get to the Otaika shops."
Police said it appeared yesterday's crash happened when a car turning right into Tauroa St from State Highway 1 and a northbound vehicle collided with each other head-on. At least four people, including two school-aged children, were reported to have been injured and firefighters had to remove the top of one of the vehicles to free two others. The children were sent to Whangarei Hospital with minor and moderate injuries, and one of the two trapped adults was also sent to hospital with moderate injuries.
Ms Leonard said she believed the speed limit, which is 80km/h on State Highway 1 and 50km/h on Tauroa St, contributed to the number of crashes and said the constant flow of vehicles, including buses, cars and trucks, did not help.
"You've got people coming both ways at 80km/h, and then just up the road you have a set of lights, but they only stop turning traffic so you constantly have cars coming through."
