Someone could ‘have been killed’ by speeding truck

A Ravensbourne resident is concerned someone could "have been killed" after a freight truck was caught on video speeding into a new Port Otago container depot.

Port Otago says the truck appeared to be travelling over the speed limit and have contacted the trucking company involved.

The port company operates a "pop-up" container depot at 160 Ravensbourne Rd, which is accessed by a one-way traffic flow coming off Ravensbourne Rd (State Highway 88).

The depot has drawn concern from members of the Ravensbourne community worried about increased traffic and their views of the harbour being obstructed.

A Ravensbourne resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said he decided to video the trucks after seeing a couple of them speeding into the container depot, including one going "so fast that somebody would have been killed".

The video, taken a couple of weeks ago, showed a truck exiting SH88 and on to a driveway used to access the pop-up depot.

The resident believed it was travelling "well over" the 20kmh speed limit down the driveway.

A 20kmh speed limit marks the entrance to Port Otago’s "pop-up" container depot at 160...
A 20kmh speed limit marks the entrance to Port Otago’s "pop-up" container depot at 160 Ravensbourne Rd, north of Moller Park. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON
While out filming, he had seen five or six people, including cyclists and runners, go down the driveway.

If there had been someone on the driveway at the time, he doubted they would have been able to get out of the truck’s way in time.

While Port Otago had not stacked their containers as high as they said they could — to only three containers high instead of five — the management of the depot was "rubbish" and the neighbourhood should have been consulted.

"We’ve told them right from the start that that driveway is not suitable to take those big trucks down there."

Port Otago commercial manager Craig Usher said it received the video along with a complaint.

"From the video it appeared that it was above the 20kmh speed limit, which is what’s within the TMP [traffic management plan].

"The trucking firm in question was contacted immediately followed by discussions with the various teams and the safety update and briefing and haven’t had any incidents since."

tim.scott@odt.co.nz

 

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