Calls for sign to be moved past bridge to slow speedsters

A newcomer to Ettrick says she cannot sleep at night and is putting her life, her animals, and grandchildren in danger every time she gets on the road.

Heather Morris and her husband Paul bought their house, on State Highway 8, just east of the small hamlet of Ettrick, last November, having left the West Coast.

Mrs Morris said since moving to the house, it had been a constant diet of speeding cars and near misses as vehicles flew past the gate.

‘‘There is a 100kmh sign up the road. When cars leave Ettrick, where they have to go 80kmh - which, by the way, is too high - they just put their foot down and take off. They are going way above 100kmh,’’ she said.

‘‘I have a truck and trailer for my two horses and that is 13m long. You try to drive out of the driveway and not get hit. I have had so many near misses.

‘‘I wake up most mornings and go round straightening up pictures because all the trucks going past go so fast they rock the whole house.’’

She lives just below a small rise where she said vehicles sped up as they go past the 100kmh sign - ‘‘it’s like a drag strip’’.

Her two horses are in a paddock across the highway and it has become a nightmare to go and get them and bring them across the road.

‘‘They get spooked by the traffic. Even when there looks as though there are no cars around they come so fast - come out of nowhere. ’’

A NZ Transport Agency representative and Aspiring Highways contractor had visited her at the house but she said they offered no help.

One suggested she should have looked at the road when buying the house.

‘‘But who does that? Who looks at the speed of vehicles when you are going to buy a house?’’

She has two grandchildren - aged 8 and 4 - who she constantly worried about when they are staying with her, such was the danger of the road.

Her pet staffie-collie-cross Roxy was hit by a vehicle, ending up with 18 stitches in her back.

Mrs Morris wanted the 100kmh sign moved about 200m down the road to past a bridge which crossed the Benger Burn.

An NZTA spokesman said the agency was looking at the issue.

‘‘NZTA is aware of the concerns which have been raised and we are prioritising a response. We acknowledge that there were delays in the concerns raised by this resident being forwarded to our regional safety team.

‘‘We have endeavoured to be open in our communication about the challenges involved with speed management and balancing the needs of residents and road users.’’