Sandra Watson's fence gets smashed by
a car for the 11th time
Councillors have asked staff to urgently look at options for making the now notorious Totara St and Fitzherbert Ave safer - including the possibility of a roundabout.
More than 1400 people signed a petition calling for a roundabout to be installed at the bend "as a matter of urgency".
It was presented to Whanganui district councillors on Tuesday by neighbours Sandra Watson and Teresa Payton who have had a spate of cars through their fences.
"We are not trained paramedics but have first hand experience with having to deal with these accident scenes which you guys have not had," Ms Watson said.
"We dread the day we have to deal with an actual death in our front yards."
Ms Watson's fence has been hit 11 times on the 14 years she has lived there, including five in the last 13 months.
Council installed extra and larger warning signs on the bend after a crash in February this year but a month later it happened again the day after the petition was handed to council.
"The last accident was at 4pm in the rain. Half an hour earlier there could have been children from four local schools in the immediate area walking home and my international student arrived home 10 minutes before, so it's not cool," Ms Watson said.
Teresa Payton and Sandra Watson told councillors they dread the day sometime dies in their front yard.
At Tuesday's meeting some councillors called for quick action and voted for a report on options be brought to next month's full council meeting, bypassing the infrastructure committee.
"My feeling is that our infrastructure team should already have some solutions... and that we should not have to wait and these people should not have to wait for months and months for another report to come," councillor Helen Craig said.
"This has been out in the community for quite some time as a particular roading issue in this area and it seems like council are just not being proactive enough as they could be. I just don't want another 'oh, it's too hard'."
Deputy mayor Jenny Duncan also didn't want council to wait too long.
"If this was the first time it would be a different kettle of fish."
Whanganui District Council installed extra signage at the corner of Totara St and Fitzherbert Ave in February. Photo/ Bevan Conley
Mayor Hamish McDouall understood the pair would worry on wet days like Tuesday was and said there were other Whanganui streets in which people would have similar concerns.
"However, you had people through your fence and it behoves us to try and do something," he said.
