Speed bumps not the answer, residents told

Riselaw Rd resident Michelle Forscutt is worried about speeding motorists and wants speed bumps...
Riselaw Rd resident Michelle Forscutt is worried about speeding motorists and wants speed bumps placed on the street. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
It is only a matter of time before another child is seriously injured or killed on Riselaw Rd unless speed bumps are put in place, residents say.

Last December, 10-year-old Shania Hutton suffered serious head injuries after being struck by a car only metres from her Riselaw Rd home. She was walking to a shop at the time.

Drivers regularly ignored the 50kmh speed limit on the residential road, which connected the southern motorway with Corstorphine Rd at Calton Hill, resident Michelle Forscutt said.

She first asked the Dunedin City Council in 2007 to improve Riselaw Rd traffic management.

"We were 63rd out of 145 projects on a council list in 2007, but [the council] lost the list," she said.

In February she presented the council with a petition signed by 230 residents, in support of speed bumps being installed along the road to slow speeding traffic.

Of all the Riselaw Rd residents, she was unable to contact about 20, and of those she asked to sign the petition only four declined.

Mrs Forscutt said the council had since placed counters in certain spots on the road, but she believed they were ineffective.

One counter was near the school on Riselaw Rd, where traffic was forced to slow or stop for children being picked up or dropped off, so it would not gather a true record of speed.

Another counter near an intersection would also provide skewed data, Mrs Forscutt said.

A few speed bumps would not be expensive and would make a big difference, she said.

"We've had enough of people speeding along the road.

"Some residents say backing out of their driveways is like taking your life into your own hands," she said.

Mrs Forscutt said a daily average of 1647 vehicles used the road on weekdays.

A speed camera had not been installed but the council put up an electronic device which notified motorists of their speed.

"But that was not calibrated properly and told drivers they were going 10kmh slower than they actually were," she said.

DCC senior traffic engineer Ron Minnema said the council would not install speed bumps on Riselaw Rd because data collected by traffic counters showed it was not warranted.

Mr Minnema said the counters were placed at high-risk areas where traffic-calming measures would be installed if deemed necessary.

He said the council was concerned a few motorists were more than 10kmh over the 50kmh limit, but overall the number of speeding drivers was low.

He said although there were a few people going quite quickly, the vast majority travelled at significantly lower speeds than they did on most other roads where the council had measured speeds.

"We've got speeding on every street in town and can't put speed bumps everywhere. It's not the answer," he said.

On Riselaw Rd between 6am and 7am, an average of four cars travelled at more than 60kmh each day.

Between 8am and 9am, and 3pm and 4pm, an average of fewer than two vehicles per hour exceeded 60kmh.

The number rose to five per hour, every hour, between 4pm and 7pm.

Mr Minnema said the average speed of all vehicles counted at both sites on Riselaw Rd was between 44kmh and 46kmh at all times.

He said 85% of motorists travelled at speeds less than 55kmh on the site of one counter, and less than 51kmh at the site of the other counter.

The council sent its data to Dunedin police and was working with the Riselaw Rd school to implement a safe traffic programme.

Mr Minnema said the recalibrated speed warning device would be installed on Riselaw Rd for three-week periods during school terms.

If traffic calming was warranted on Riselaw Rd, speed bumps (each costing between $3000 and $5000) would not be installed because it was a through route, Mr Minnema said.

Road islands and narrowing would be used instead, sacrificing parking space, he said.

When told speed bumps would not be placed on the road, Mrs Forscutt was disappointed.

"It's just a shame really because kids are afraid to cross the street, and kids shouldn't be scared in their own neighbourhood," she said.

- rosie.manins@odt.co.nz

 

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