Voter wants greater focus on road safety

Enderly resident Judy MacDonald is concerned about the apparent lack of attention paid by the Hamilton City Council to road safety for cyclists and pedestrians.

A resident of the Five Cross Roads area , Mrs MacDonald said the Boundary Road Bridge, as well as the road itself, is rife with unsafe areas.

“Crossing Boundary Road, you get two lanes of traffic coming at you, both coming and going, and there are no real crossings except right at the mouth of the intersection,” Mrs MacDonald said.

She said she would like to see more light-controlled crossings for such areas, as well as Barnes Dance crossings ( system that stops all traffic and allows pedestrians to cross in all directions) on busier intersections such as the Ward-Anglesea Street intersection.

However, she acknowledged that legislation and funding were causing the Council to be “recalcitrant” about spending money on such remedies.

“The council are so focused on balancing the budget, they’re verging on paranoia,” she said.

“They’re chipping away at the little things, things that make a city worth living in, to save money.”

Mrs MacDonald said the Ruakura Road area was another prime example.

“A young man was killed in that area a couple of years back when the speed was 80. The roadworks got the speed down to 50, but now it’s back up to 60…and still no crossing for pedestrians.”

She said although some of the current councillors had made an effort to remedy this problem, there were several council hopefuls she would like to see elected.

“Ross McLeod really walks the talk… bikes everywhere, doesn’t own a car. Rex Bushel, older and more formal, but he’s strong on issues like safety for bikers and pedestrians.”

She said central topics like water fluoridation had been obscuring other, equally serious issues, road safety being just one of them.

“The city needs leaders who can deal with underlying issues.”