The criticism came from Brian O'Neill yesterday, after he raised concerns last month about safety at the intersection of Duke St and the city's one-way Cumberland St.
Mr O'Neill said he feared for his life when approaching the intersection from Pine Hill on his motorcycle, because of the number of cars pulling out from Duke St without stopping at the stop sign controlling the junction.
He decided to go public after a motorist pulled out metres in front of him on April 8, forcing him to take evasive action.
He blamed the road's layout, poor visibility and driver behaviour for the ``accident waiting to happen'', but said the focus should be on making improvement to the intersection's outdated design.
The NZTA was not able to respond last month, but, in a statement yesterday, insisted the intersection was safe.
NZTA projects team manager Simon Underwood said it did have some ``unique features'', including the highway's curved approach, but it was not ``particularly busy'' for traffic turning or crossing the intersection.
It remained ``low risk'', compared with other Dunedin intersections, as no injury crashes had been recorded at the intersection between 2012 and 2016, he said.
Five non-injury crashes had been recorded in the area during the same period, but involved vehicles changing lanes or hitting stationary vehicles, not the intersection itself, he said.
Vegetation to the north of the intersection was maintained by private parties to ensure it did not impede motorists' vision, and there were no plans to make improvements, he said.
Instead, the onus was on motorists to obey the junction's stop sign, he said.
Mr O'Neill was not impressed by the response, saying the stop sign was ``routinely ignored''.
``Unfortunately, this is the real world and not the theory world,'' he said.
``It's cold comfort to an injured party knowing that in theory they should be safe if everyone obeyed the road rules.''
There had also been a two-car, non-injury crash at the intersection on April 21, days after he raised concerns, which sent one vehicle careering into a brick wall.
Mr O'Neill did not believe police enforcement would solve the problem, but suggested Duke St could be blocked off at the intersection and traffic redirected to more suitable intersections.
``I want to be safe in practice, as well as in theory.''
