Less than a month before Jackson Aitchison’s death, fellow Luggate resident Jane O’Brien flipped her car on a gravel section of the road.
She said she was driving at 50kmh in a 80kmh stretch of Ballantyne Rd when she lost control of her car and the vehicle overturned.
Miss O’Brien said the crash affected her significantly, and she had only just begun driving down the road again, 18 months after the crash.
"I was scared to drive for a month or so."
"It’s [the road] still terrible, but I drive a flasher car than my old one and I feel safer in that."
She believed the council’s progress in improving the road was "slow" and "frustrating".
"I don’t see why they don’t just seal it the same as the parts of the road that are sealed."
A sealed Ballantyne Rd would be advantageous to the growing Luggate community, she said, as it provided an arguably quicker route in to Wanaka.
"It’s so useful as a shortcut for us Luggate locals. So many cars use it," she said.
