The new road markings were described last week by a concerned motorist as ''utter madness''. This week, the same motorist pointed out an online post about the intersection.
The post writer reported having just seen an accident at the intersection and commented that, if the law of common sense was applied, ''the only party at fault is whoever designed the intersection''.
Recent changes to the intersection have a left-turning lane and a straight through lane from the First Church side of the intersection, with parking on the left alongside the kerb.
On the opposite side, markings have three lanes coming down Moray Pl - a left-turning lane, a straight through lane and a right turning lane. That means traffic travelling straight ahead from the First Church side has to move diagonally through the intersection, as indicated by a broken white line, to avoid vehicles coming towards them.
The post writer said he saw an accident at the intersection just after 11.30am on Monday, when there was a collision between a car coming down Moray Pl to turn right into Princes St and a small truck travelling straight through from the First Church side.
Describing what happened, the writer said he had ''complete sympathy'' for both drivers.
''They were both fooled by the ridiculous layout.
''When will common sense kick in and someone admit they stuffed up,'' the man said.
Asked to comment on the crash and the situation with the road layout, Dunedin City Council traffic group manager Richard Saunders said the council was not aware of any other accidents at the intersection.
And when asked whether the road markings were likely to be adjusted, Mr Saunders said there would be a change next week when the intersection was converted to a Barnes dance.
The three lanes coming down Moray Pl, outside the Savoy Building, will be reduced to two lanes, a combined straight through, left-turn lane and a right-turn lane.
Moving the lanes towards the kerb on the left would improve the alignment with traffic coming straight across the intersection from lower Moray Pl, Mr Saunders said.
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Comments
If turning right to go south on princes street there is no room to edge into the middle of the intersection without blocking the straight through traffic heading towards rialto, at certain times of the day, you will never get from rialto to head south, which will back traffic up to the fortune theatre.
Angled straight through lane is a compete idiotic joke.
Not to mention the no turn from first church to George street.
Absolute shambles
Pantellica; pulling out onto any intersection and stopping there is illegal. Always has been. Yes, it means you might get stuck at the intersection at busy times. Plan accordingly.
Oh another barnes dance "solution". The barnes dance intersections are making the straight through queues so long it's impossible to turn right. This is going to be absolute carnage at christmas.
I take your point about the right-turning waits. Otherwise I have found the barnes dance changes exceptionally good and a vast improvement over the previous set up. The solution to the right-turn problem could be solved with the addition of a short right-turn-only phase in the lights.
This approach is standard throughout the rest of the world, I've seen it in the states, UK and Australia.
It just goes to show that the Dunedin drivers just can't drive.
Grumpy old man.
Its called keeping traffic flowing. You may not care. But some people have things to do and places to be, especially with this being central city, traffic flow should be just that, flow not woah
If you're that confused by a SIMPLE intersection like this, then maybe it's time to sell the car and find other ways to get around. In my very first time traversing through this intersection after the changes, i immediately noticed the 'New road layout' signs, because i was scanning the surrounding area like the road code says you should every time you get behind the wheel (i've been driving for around 20 years), and saw that the road had changed, and so followed the new lines/directions on the road.
On a difficulty scale of 1 to 10, with ten being impossible, i'd put it at a 2 or a 3. And i feel that 3 is too high, now i've typed that.
Standard 'i am awesome at diving' comment. That's more typical than rubbish Dunedin drivers. You're probably a taxi driver with that attitude yet the bigger problem, is complacency.
I drive pretty much professionally all the time, i wouldnt say im awesome, just experienced enough to note what i see as problems a lot more than thosewho spend less time driving
The worst bit is the feeder streets intersections lights haven't been adjusted to be better aligned with the changes on sequence with the barnes dance styles (which are fine i their own right)