In an effort to go the extra mile in demonstrating her displeasure about the proposal, one submitter dressed to impress at this week’s Woolworths NZ resource consent application hearing in Greytown.
At the two-day hearing, Woolworths NZ presented its argument for an accessway development to Greytown’s FreshChoice supermarket to an independent commissioner.
It also saw a large number of residents voice their opposition to the application on the basis that aspects of heritage and traffic would be compromised.
Carolyn Wait spoke to her submission on Tuesday while wearing a t-shirt featuring a photograph of a large Countdown delivery truck turning out of Hastwell St and crossing the centre line.
She said she wanted to make her feelings clear to the commissioner.
“I can see that Woolworths experts have pored over the regulations and legislation and carefully defined the meaning of words to meet their definition,” Wait said. “But what Woolworths NZ are proposing is a public thoroughfare, a street – not a driveway.”
The proposal, Wait said, has the potential to cause a serious accident involving a pedestrian or vehicle on Greytown’s Main St.
“All vehicles have blind spots and truck’s blind spots are just so much bigger.”
Wait said her own daughter was in an accident in which her vehicle was dragged 150 metres in front of a logging truck until it hit a metal road barrier.
“This happened on a roundabout, and traffic was moving slowly. The truck was in the right-hand lane, and my daughter was on the left,” Wait said.
“He moved into her lane. He could not see her; she was in his blind spot. It had the potential to be fatal, though luckily it wasn’t.
“The truck driver said he had trouble steering and thought he had blown a tyre. He didn’t realise he had a car under the front of his truck until he got out.”
The previous day, Woolworths NZ transport expert Leo Hills had provided the commissioner with evidence that the accessway would be safe.
“Let’s be clear that, from a transportation point of view, the proposal is simply for a vehicle crossing,” Hills said.
“Just to be clear, it’s one large B-train truck and four to six smaller vehicles each day.”
In his statement of evidence, Hills noted that trucks entering the driveway from the south of Main Rd south would be able to observe pedestrians and give way.
HIlls also referenced other supermarkets in Featherston and Carterton with similar supermarket accessways.
“As I have noted previously, in the past 10 years there have been no reported crashes involving pedestrians or cyclists on any of these existing driveways.”
For full coverage of the hearings, see pages 6-7
