Andrew Sime, a 36-year-old Dunedin refuse collector, died in Dunedin Hospital on Saturday of head injuries received after he stepped down from a Transpacific Industries Group truck about noon on Thursday and was hit by a van.
The accident happened near the intersection of Riccarton Rd and Dukes Rd, nor far from the Riccarton Rd-Bush Rd intersection where Thelma Louisa McNab (85), of Balclutha, died in September 2007.
She died of brain injuries two days after a collision, caused when she drove through a compulsory stop sign at the intersection .
Two resident groups - the Riccarton Rd Action Group and the Riccarton Rd West Safety Society Incorporated - have been complaining to the council for years, reiterating that the road was too narrow and too dangerous to take the increasing number of trucks using it as a direct route across the Taieri Plain, and again stressing that the 80kmh speed limit needed to be reduced to 50kmh.
They also said the council had been encouraging trucks to use the road, even though it was officially a local road and not a designated arterial route.
Riccarton Rd West Safety Society chairman Brian Miller said on Friday residents were upset about Thursday's accident and wanted urgent action from the council.
"We'd had enough of hearing what might be going to happen. We actually want something to happen."
He said he had emailed Cr Kate Wilson, one of two local ward representatives, requesting the council immediately discourage trucks from using the road by switching the Give Way signs to favour the side roads rather than Riccarton Rd, and by installing speed humps through East Taieri village.
The council should instruct trucks to use State Highway 87, which ran along Gordon Rd to the east of Riccarton Rd, or the Allanton-Outram arterial route, which ran to the west of Riccarton Rd, he said.
"We don't want an accident to happen to anyone else. There are ways of preventing these sort of accidents, but the council has turned a blind eye."
As part of negotiations last year with Meridian Energy, a safety survey of Riccarton Rd was carried out.
The report said deficiencies such as poor sight lines, difficult intersections and the presence of large drainage culverts close to the road should be remedied to improve safety.
Safety society member Sue Cleave had a huge argument about Riccarton Rd with council chief executive Jim Harland in his office a year ago which resulted in her being trespassed from council buildings for two years.
She said on Friday she felt "despondent" her concerns about the speed of traffic and the safety of the road had been ignored.
"Unfortunately, what happened [on Thursday] proves our point.
The council should be protecting residents and road users by making the trucks go elsewhere . . . but it has taken no notice of what the people want."
Riccarton Rd Action group chairman Campbell Wilson said on Friday he was frustrated at the council's lack of interest in residents' concerns.
"What has happened is tragic. It could be a child next time."
His group planned to write to the council asking that trucks be directed to use Gladfield Rd, a quiet rural road to the west of Riccarton Rd, as a heavy traffic route across the plain.
The 80kmh speed limit also needed to be reduced to 50kmh as soon as possible, he said.
Cr Andrew Noone, chairman of the council's infrastructure services committee, which oversees roading projects, said the council was concerned about safety on the road and was committed to doing something about it.
About $3 million had been budgeted to build a bridle path alongside the carriageway between Gladstone Rd and Dukes Rd.
The council was also committed to building a link between Centre St and Dukes Rd on the eastern side of Mosgiel, although Cr Noone said traffic studies showed opening up that route was not expected to reduce traffic volumes on Riccarton Rd.
