Ngunguru parent fears child will be hit at notorious school intersection

Te Maika intersection in Ngunguru is an accident waiting to happen, says Eugene Fayerberg, pictured at the hotspot with wife Amber and their son Miles, daughter Eliana (in yellow) and her friend Isabelle Fisher. Photo / Tania Whyte

A community member and parent says he fears a child will be hit at the dangerous turn-off to Ngunguru School as the wait for council safety improvements drags on.

Hospital emergency medicine consultant Eugene Fayerberg said Whangārei District Council had dragged its heels on safety work at Ngunguru School’s Te Maika Rd turn-off from the busy Whangārei-to-Tūtūkākā main route.

“It’s only a matter of time until someone using the footpath to go to or from school is killed or seriously injured,” Fayerberg, who has a child at the school, said.

Clear signage was needed on the busy Whangārei-to-Tūtūkākā main road to warn drivers of the school turn-off.

Road speeds should be lowered around the intersection, while a flashing light on the main route could warn motorists of school start and finish times, he said.

“The chances of survival are pretty slim when it comes to motor vehicle versus pedestrian. It makes me sick to my stomach,” Fayerberg said.

He did not want to have to resuscitate a child injured at the intersection.

“And I don’t want to be fixing up someone who’s been hurt at the intersection and arrives in an ambulance at [Whangārei] Hospital’s ED,” he said.

Fayerberg said he had been given the runaround by the Whangārei council on road safety improvements.

Ngunguru School principal Rosemary Murphy wrote to the council about the issue in mid-August, but said she had not heard back.

“My concern is for the safety of our students,” Murphy said.

Two-thirds of the school’s 240 students walked, scootered or rode their bikes along the intersection’s seaward footpath daily, she said.

It was the only school access.

Murphy said adding signage on the main route saying “kura” or “children walking here” would be a good start.

This was particularly important for the Tūtūkākā coast’s many visitors, she said.

Northland Transportation Alliance (NTA) strategy and planning manager Jeff Devine said the council was aware of the community’s concerns — and acknowledged intersection speed limit and safety fix delays.

The Northland councils and Waka Kotahi NZTA alliance delivers local roading services in the region.

Devine said the delays were due to government changes to the planning required for speed and safety improvements.

Ngunguru-based hospital emergency specialist Eugene Fayerberg on the footpath used by school kids, with the troublesome Te Maika intersection's new right-hand turning bay in the background. Photo / Tania Whyte

However, Fayerberg said the Ngunguru community had been lobbying the council about the intersection for seven years.

He said the intersection was particularly unsafe around traffic heading west from Tūtūkākā coast towards Whangārei.

Vehicles travelled downhill at speed as they approached the intersection from this direction, Fayerberg said.

The speed sign on this hill, asking motorists to slow from 100km/h to 50km/h, was just 50m from the turn-off, he said.

Meanwhile, a new turning bay on this main thoroughfare had encroached about a metre into the oncoming Tūtūkākā-to-Whangārei westbound lane, he said.

“That means vehicles coming down the hill from Tūtūkākā coast and heading into the intersection now have to veer further to the left in their lane, and much closer to the footpath,” Fayerberg said.

Devine said the right-hand turning bay was added to the intersection last year by the new Te Kokoru subdivision’s developer as part of consent requirements. The subdivision is at the end of Te Maika Rd.

He said both sides of the Whangārei-to-Tūtūkākā coast main route were widened when the bay was put in, but acknowledged it did push westbound traffic closer to the intersection’s seaward corner footpath.

Fayerberg said he wanted signage to warn motorists of the school as they travelled from the Tūtūkākā coast towards the turn-off. A flashing light could be used during school start and finish times.

A second warning sign was also needed on the Whangārei side of the turn-off — at the Shoebridge Rd raised zebra crossing.

Fayerberg has started a petition about his speed and safety concerns.

NTA’s Devine said council funding for a proposed Tūtūkākā/Ngunguru area speed review would be included in the WDC draft 2024-27 Long Term Plan.

It would be the first priority in the council’s 2024-27 programme, subject to council and Waka Kotahi NZTA funding.

Ngunguru School’s classification as a category one urban school required a 30km/h speed limit around it, either permanently or at certain times, under the review’s rules.

The review would also include school zone signage, he said.

■ Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air