'An accident waiting to happen'

Havelock North residents are concerned about an intersection that gets so congested they believe it's only a matter of time before there is a serious accident.

Their concerns relate to the corner of Te Mata Rd and Hillsbrook Place, which becomes a "bottleneck" in the morning and afternoons with children getting dropped off at school and kindergarten. Without a turning lane, cars are backed up on Te Mata Rd and often across cycle lanes.

One person phoned Hawke's Bay Today yesterday to say nine out of every 10 cars he witnessed entering Hillsbrook Place were cutting across the cycle lanes.

A local resident, who did not want to be named, said it was only a matter of time before someone was bowled over.

"More than being a bit dangerous, it's just a matter of time," he said. "It seems a lot of congestion for such a small street."

He believed the main culprits were parents rushing to drop off their kids at Hereworth School and Piccolini kindergarten.

"You've got all these people competing [to go] into one street, which is probably not the way it should be. It's probably gone from a private service lane to just about a freeway. It's just getting worse, something will happen shortly and they'll say 's*** it's too late'."

Hereworth School headmaster Ross Scrymgeour agreed congestion was an issue and said there had been a number of nose-to-tail collisions at the intersection.

With lots of traffic on the road, drivers often had to stop, backed up, in the middle of the road to try and turn into the Hillsbrook Pl entrance or were forced to turn in the cycle lanes.

Others preferred to drive all the way to the roundabout so they could drive back and enter from the opposite direction.

"From our point of view... We'd like to have a turning bay or lane in the middle of Te Mata Rd in that area, so cars can pull into a zebra zone," he said.

With a lot of schools in the area there was a build-up of cars at that time of day. "Cars are basically turning in cycle lanes and there are so many schools in the area, it's got to be dangerous at certain times of the day."

A Hastings District Council spokesperson did not return a request for comment yesterday.