Jane O’Brien (22) says she will continue to feel the effects for some time, after she lost control of her car on a gravel section of the road near the Wanaka Airport end and it overturned. Miss O’Brien said she was travelling at 50kmh in a 80kmh stretch of the road at the time of the crash.
She said this week she was motivated to speak out following the death earlier this month of Luggate teenager Jackson Aitchison (17) after the car he was travelling in left the road and hit a tree.
Miss O’Brien said since the crash she had suffered from anxiety and even if she was allowed to drive she did not think she would be confident enough to do so. She did not want to return to the site for a photo, fearing the feelings it would bring up.
A concussion also means she has trouble staying alert and concentrating during the day. As a consequence, she cannot go back to work as a pre-school teacher at WanaExcel until next year and her studies to become qualified are on hold.
"I’m pretty lucky my bosses have been really helpful and understanding but it’s still really frustrating," she said. She has not been charged over the crash, which she believed showed it was not her fault.
She was pleased the Queenstown Lakes District Council would be looking at options to seal the rest of the road. Knowing other people had concerns prompted her to speak out, she said.
"I just want to get the message across to the community so something can be done ... I don’t want anyone to have to go through the same thing."
Miss O’Brien said she hoped something was done before anyone else got injured or worse.
Police are still investigating what caused Jackson Aitchison to lose control. At the time of that crash, Senior Sergeant Allan Grindell, of Wanaka, said police were aware of the issues the community had with the road, but it was still the responsibility of individuals to drive to the conditions of the road they were on.
Miss O’Brien’s crash was just one of several on the road this year, including five in six weeks at the start of the year.
The possibility of sealing the entire road and how it could be done would be part of the agenda at the first full meeting of the Wanaka Community Board, mostly likely to be held in early December.
Speed restrictions of 50kmh were put in place by the council on the unsealed sections of the road at the start of October.
