Crashes too close to home

Stephanie McMillan inspects the damage done to a lamp post and garden by a vehicle outside her Tikipunga house. Photo / John Stone

Tikipunga resident Stephanie McMillan knows all to well the sounds of a car crash. Over the last decade she has had three cars crash through her garden fence on to her lawn and a fourth was added to the tally over the weekend when a car smashed into a lamp post, missing her garden fence by centimetres.

The grandmother of 10 thinks it's about time the council did something about preventing vehicles smashing their way on to her Kiripaka Rd property.

"I've lived here 20 years but for the first time on Friday I thought 'I don't need this any more'."

Mrs McMillan described how she was woken about 11pm by a huge crashing noise.

"Without a shadow of a doubt I knew it was going to be on my property," she said.

The car had been travelling north up Kiripaka Rd when it struck a street light and spun 180 degrees and ended up facing downhill. Mrs McMillan said there were three people near the car when she ventured out.

Yesterday a gardener spent two hours clearing the mess caused by the crash. Mrs McMillan said she had contacted the council and would be suggesting barriers or rocks be placed on the sweeping corner to stop vehicles ending up in her front yard.

Whangarei District Council spokeswoman Ann Midson said the area had a 50km/h speed limit and the four crashes at Mrs McMillan's property did not have a common element.

"The causes were different in every case," Ms Midson said. "It's a matter of people driving to the conditions and speed limits."

A 21-year-old Onerahi woman is to appear in Whangarei District Court on a charge of careless driving in relation to the crash.