By Geoff Vause
Kate Nolan has taken up the baton for her late mother to see a pedestrian crossing outside Carterton’s medical centre on State Highway 2.
Jan Selley died unexpectedly on August 27, and had attracted 370 signatures to a petition for a crossing over the road she had described as “terrifying”.
The existing crossing area has bays but no pedestrian crossing.
It is used not only by the elderly going to the medical centre, but also those using other businesses in the vicinity, the dentist, and the nearby early childhood centre.
Alisha Robinson, who regularly has her two sons, four-year-old Mytraya and eight-year-old James in tow, says the “half-finished” crossing point is a real hazard.
“Young families need to get to the playcentre, and it’s always dangerous here,” she said.
“We have to wait quite a while for the cars to stop.”
Transport agency regional boss Mark Owen is meeting with mayor John Booth next week – if he is re-elected – to discuss a number of safety issues for the highway between Carterton and Masterton, and Mr Booth will raise the subject of the pedestrian crossing.
“It’s wonderful what Kate is doing,” Mr Booth said.
“Her mum got the petition going and Kate’s taken up the baton. I’ll be backing her on this when we meet with NZTA.”
Mr Booth said there was a lot to be done regarding safety enhancements for the highway between Carterton and Masterton.
He said wider factors included road marking, intelligent electronic signage, side barriers, and passing lanes.
“We’ll have input to the final list of projects,” Mr Booth said.
Long-serving Carterton councillor Bill Knowles gave his valedictory speech at the final council meeting before elections this weekend, and said seeing the crossing in place had been important to him.
“The medical centre people told me recently they have around 6500 people on their client list, many of them elderly,” Mr Knowles said.
“I count not getting that pedestrian crossing in place as one of my failures.”
An NZTA spokesperson said a new pedestrian crossing on a state highway anywhere required a review of pedestrian safety in the relevant area.
A review would include pedestrian activity, nearby pedestrian crossings, the safety record of the specific stretch of road, traffic volumes, and any flow-on impact.
If the review found the crossing was the right option and had the support of the wider community and relevant stakeholders, it would be evaluated for funding along with other safety projects.
NZTA said at the time they received Mrs Selley’s petition that a review would take about two months.
That was in July.
Mrs Nolan wrote to Mark Owen at NZTA on September 15 and again on September 22.
“The fact that my mother, who worked very hard to gather the signatures on the petition [already sent] has passed away adds to my determination to see a positive outcome to this matter.”
Mrs Nolan told the Times-Age she was still waiting for a reply, and in deference to her late mother’s memory, she would be staying on their case.
We recently visited Carterton and were amazed that there was not a proper crossing . The number of accidents and near misses must be astromical. Wasn’t NZ the first country to give women the vote? yet they cannot provide a safe area for its residents to cross a ver busy road!
Keep up your fight Kate Nolan not only for your Mum but for all residents