AFTER nearly getting run over on Eltham's main street, Shane Lindsay wants the pedestrian crossing better sign-posted.
He was walking across the highway outside the Four Square on Friday when a car travelling north just narrowly missed him, he says. Five people witnessed the incident.
He got such a fright, he hurled the sausage roll he was eating at the car, but the driver kept going, he says. As he stood there, shocked, a second car narrowly missed him.
Spurred into action by the fright he'd had, Shane wrote a petition calling for action.
He spent three hours outside the Four Square store on Saturday morning in bitter cold wind, and gathered 100 signatures.
"Of those who signed it, 85% had stories to tell of their own near misses or ones they'd witnessed," he says.
"Is it going to take a death in the community before the police and councillors take note?"
Shane says he has talked to the police in Stratford and in Eltham about the incident, but they have not taken any action, although one police officer has signed his petition.
Senior Sergeant Darrin Haenga says the police were not able to take any action over the incident on Friday as Shane was unable to get the registration number of the offending car.
Shane says cars go noticeably slower past the crossing when a police car is parked beside the Eltham police station.
"This is widely known in the community as a dangerous crossing."
Roading manager Vincent Lim of the South Taranaki District Council says he has discussed the issue with the New Zealand Transport Agency. As it is a state highway, the crossing is under the jurisdiction of the Government body, not the council.
NZTA regional state highways manager David McGonigal says all the required markings, signs and beacons are already in place on the crossing, as well as kerb extensions as a 'traffic calming' device.
"We have looked into installing further signage, but given that signage in the central township is already quite dense, further signage could actually detract from safety by distracting drivers.
"The NZTA is planning to tackle the wider issue of drivers entering Eltham at high speeds," he says.
"We will be installing digital speed warning signs at the north end of the town advising motorists how fast they are travelling and/or telling them to slow down." It's important that pedestrians make themselves clearly visible to approaching traffic, and that they don't begin to cross until they are confident the approaching vehicle is stopping."
If drivers fail to stop at a pedestrian crossing when a pedestrian is waiting to cross or already crossing, they are breaking the law, and should be reported to police.
"The NZTA shares Mr Lindsay's concerns about pedestrian safety at Eltham, and we encourage him to share his concerns with us directly.," he says.
Action wanted at Eltham’s risky crossing
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