Jean Greer in front of the damaged fence at her Tinui property. PHOTO/JADE CVETKOV
Council up for discussion
KAREN COLTMAN
[email protected]
Finding her two lambs trotting across the road on Monday morning and her front paddock fence smashed by a driver coming off the Masterton Castlepoint Road near Tinui has put Jean Greer on the warpath.
Greer and her friend Brian Henderson said it was the third time the section of fence had been destroyed in as many years.
It happened about a year ago during the day while Greer was at her Tinui craft shop. The time before that was around three years ago.
Greer, aged 83, will again get help from her neighbours to repair about 15 metres of batten and wire fencing along the road front, at significant cost to her.
But she is worried that if her stock escape again and cause an accident or a death, she will carry the blame.
A neighbour from across the road advised her on Monday morning that her lambs were on the main road.
The road is a main route for logging trucks and holidaymakers going out to Castlepoint and Mataikona.
“Just over a year ago the exact same thing happened,” Greer said. “Drivers are going too fast and overcorrect when taking the bend.
“They lose control and take down my fence and damage my paddocks.
“They are lucky not to go into the ditch as it is quite a drop from where they usually come to a stop.
“Me and Brian asked the council to get speed reduction signs up but nothing has happened.”
Henderson said a Masterton District Council staff member told them years ago that they would put up a speed reduction sign or some arrows showing the curve of the bend.
“If council don’t do something about it this time, we will take it further,” Henderson said. “I have many locals here ready to get action on these dangerous bends on this road.
“I have rung the council and called the police. I’m bloody annoyed about it.”
Whakataki Hotel publican Ray Carbin said the bend is known to cause accidents and drivers need to be alerted to it.
“There are quite a few young guys up and down this road day and night and they should be advised to slow down,” Carbin said. “Some of them hoon on that stretch for sure.”
Police have inspected the site which is in a 100kmh speed zone and confirmed where the accident happened is “a decent bend around to the left”.
There are similar bends on that stretch of road which have speed advisory signs.
Senior Sergeant Jennifer Hansen said it may be of benefit for this to be further considered by the council.
“As with any travel, we advocate driving to the conditions – this includes slowing down when approaching a bend, particularly when you are unfamiliar with a particular stretch of road, do not have clear vision around the bend and the weather has been poor,” Hansen said.
The council said on Monday it will meet Greer and Henderson to discuss signage.
