Road safety

Julie Neighbourly Lead from Havelock North

I’ve been driving around the village, especially around the Havelock hills, over the holidays, picking up and dropping off of kids, and noticed a bit of an issue on streets that have no footpaths. Overgrown foliage.
This might not, generally, be a problem, except there is a LOT overgrowth on the roads and footpaths.

As we come into the warmer seasons (hopefully soon), there will be a lot more kids making their own ways to school. Some on bikes, some on scooters, some even on rollerblades/skates or skateboards. And that means a lot more opportunities for kids to get hurt.

If your garden/hedge/foliage is overgrowing the footpaths, kids, and adults, will end up on the roads, which will put them in danger from bikes and cars.

If your garden/hedge/foliage is overgrowing the road that’s going to put them right in the way of traffic, and traffic right in the way of each other.

Please cut your overgrowth back from the footpaths so everyone has room to pass, safely. If your overgrowth is on the road, contact the council, or a professional landscaper, with appropriate permits, to arrange for it to be done. They need to block the lane off on the side it’s being cut back from, and that requires traffic management permits.

We have bigger and bigger vehicles, and the roads are getting narrower and narrower, with overgrowth. We need to take responsibility for our kids safety. All of us, for all of our kids, always.

Ideally, it should have been done during the holidays, but no one’s says anything, so it doesn’t get done when it’s quiet on the roads, and that means disruptions on busy days. But it needs to be done, before disaster strikes.