According to police records, at least 18 crashes occurred on the section of road between Caversham Valley Rd and Lookout Point since 2003, Dunedin City Council transportation operations technical engineer Diana Munster said.
"The majority of the crashes that we are aware of have involved vehicles travelling downhill which then lose control on a bend."
In order to combat the problem, the council proposed moving the centre line to "give motorists a better line to follow".
As well, it proposed painting continuous white lines to create parking bays, which visually narrowed the road.
The council also suggested yellow no-parking lines in some areas, which would result in the loss of about 20 on-street parking spaces.
Such marking adjustments had been used in other areas of New Zealand and had proved effective, Ms Munster said.
Work had already been done to improve the skid resistance of the surface on one of the bends.
"The major consideration is to reduce the number of vehicles that run off the road on to the footpath and sometimes into private property," she said.
Resident Sandra Jones said she had lived in South Rd for 16 years and was all too aware of the issue, as two of her cars had been written off while parked.
She had also "hit the wall" when it came to dealing with crash victims.
After being first on the scene at the road's last serious crash, she welcomed the proposed changes.
A loss of parking would "inconvenience some people", but many parked on the road's grass verges and in their garages, she said.
She and another resident, Tanya Kelso, believed the camber of the road was wrong, but said if people drove slowly it would not cause problems.
Phil Kalman was more concerned simply about speeding drivers and the problems they caused.
"They use it like a racetrack."
Moving the centre line was not enough, as it would not "stop the idiots".
Despite numerous complaints to the council and police on the issue, this was the first attempt he had seen made to fix it and he was not impressed.
A solution he proposed was to widen the road.
However, he also wanted a larger police presence in the area.
"They need to come up here to get these guys."
The majority of speeding drivers came out after 9.30pm, and he believed police needed to spend a week on the road to "take note" of the seriousness of the problem.
Council communications co-ordinator Rodney Bryant said driver safety was not just a council problem but also a police problem.
"We are going to fix what we can fix, but we can't fix idiot drivers," he said.
"What we have been told [by residents] will help us come up with a solution."
The consultation process on the proposed changes started yesterday.
South Rd residents were invited to give their feedback by March 11.
