PHOTO


A string of crashes resulting in cars ending up in Otago Harbour at Macandrew Bay is believed to be the result of driver distraction and speed, rather than issues with the road after it was widened over the past 18 months.
The latest crash was on Wednesday night.
Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond, of Dunedin, said a car drove off Portobello Rd and was left "dangling slightly over the edge".


It was the second crash in that location this month.
"It happened as the driver was driving too fast for the wet weather conditions at the time," he said.
Otago Peninsula Community Board chairman Paul Pope said he did not believe the incidents during the past two years had been related to the design of the road, other than it remained a tight corner.
"We’re fortunate there hasn’t been serious injury or death to date.
"This is a corner that is reasonably tight, and people can pay the price of inattention.


"Drivers do really have to remember to keep their foot off the gas, stay off the cellphone, don’t fight with the kids if they’re bickering in the back seat — pay attention."
The section of road in question had been widened in a project that was completed within the past 18 months, between Macandrew Bay and Vauxhall, Mr Pope said.
Most of the road was bound by the harbour and seawall on one side, and land on the other.


The Peninsula Connection road safety project added two additional shoulder lanes to the road in order to make the stretch safer.
The widening had been undertaken following a safety audit, which sought to benefit all three types of road user, vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians, Mr Pope said.
