12/06/2012 Patumahoe Village Inc C/ Paula Crosswell 84 Day Rd, Patumahoe RD 4 Pukekohe 2679 Email: patumahoevillage2050@gmail.com Web: www.patumahoe.org.

nz To Auckland Council & Local Board Cc Mayor Len Brown, Penny Hulse, Claire Dixon, Dina Hanna, Irene Tse , Andy Baker & all Local Board members. We ask that Auckland Council review the recently erected 3 x 2 barriers in our Village as part of a wider review of traffic safety and traffic flow in our Village. While what has been put in place is probably well intentioned, it has focused just on one group and point in the Village, (Patumahoe School). In our opinion the resulting changes have increased the likelihood of death and serious injury in our Village. The planning appears to be reactionary on a one issue basis and not taken into account overall traffic safety and flow for Patumahoe Village. We would ask that in reviewing the 6 structures now in place that AC 1 Consult with us. 2 Consider overall Village traffic planning. (Not just the 1 narrow question of how to slow traffic down around our school). The main issue is that the barriers create a significant road narrowing and a hazard for cyclists sharing the road with cars & trucks. Some images are shown below: Patumahoe 6 new Road Narrowings and Signage

Main Crossing area + School Patrol. (We hear that the striped pole is coming Speed Camera down that will make the barrier hazard less visible).

Barrier/narrowing and sign at Village end of school

Barrier/narrowing at Pukekohe end of School leading to blind corner - 3m only to centre line

Same barrier showing how narrow. (3m either side of centre line). These 2 narrowings are in a 70km/hr zone

Background 1 Auckland Unleashed We note that Auckland Council with Auckland Unleashed have embraced the concept of including Communities. This is welcomed in Patumahoe where we have an active Village Group allowing easy communication with our community. 2 Trend to encourage other forms of transport We share Councils position on the future with having communities less dependent on cars and more cycle / walking / public transport friendly. For example in Patumahoe there has been a large increase in locals biking. Also Patumahoe is regularly frequented by large groups of cyclists from Auckland in the weekend. They come out here to enjoy the lower traffic densities.

Major Hazard Tamaki Drive is New Zealands most dangerous road. This is primarily because of parked cars and narrow roads combined with traffic. This results in a lot of cyclists getting killed or seriously injured. There is only room for one vehicle in each direction and in parts visibility is limited. ThWhile we do not yet have the traffic densities the erected barriers in Patumahoe to some degree replicate this. We have been advised that in Patumahoe the barriers are no wider than a parked car so what is the problem. Do we need the equivalent hazard of 6 parked cars 24/7 that are not even as easily visible as a parked car? International Trends Internationally for Traffic Calming there is a move away from simply putting in barriers to try and slow down traffic. The reason for this is perhaps best summed up from this extract from Wikipedia re Traffic Calming: However, some UK and Irish "traffic calming" schemes, particularly involving road narrowings, are viewed as extremely hostile and have been implicated directly in death and injury to cyclists. Planning appears reactionary From the barriers appearing about a year ago there has already been 1 change with the central 2 barriers being made wider. There is we understand a further change coming with the striped poles being removed at the central 2 barriers. This will make them less visible to motorists. It reinforces our conclusion about the planning being reactionary and failing to consider overall traffic safety and flow through our Village. Traffic Calming Options There are many ways of slowing down traffic besides putting in barriers. Some of the more standard options are shown below. There are also many other tools available that are for instance contained in the likes of the book Mental Speed Bumps by David Engwight.

Some options available in the toolkit for traffic calming without the need for road narrowings

Speed Camera. Very effective at reducing speed

Defined narrower lane for cars. More room for bikes and others

Good Signage Similar to Patumahoe

Zebra Crossing. More rights to pedestrians. (There are at least 4 in Tuakau whose 2006 census equates to Patumahoes current residential zoning).

At a recent Community Village meeting none of those attending agreed that what has been put in place has made our roads safer. All signed a copy of this letter agreeing that the main road was now more dangerous in their opinion.