waikato times
Last updated Ten:44, April eighteen 2017
The crash on the corner of Willoughby St and Abbotsford St in Hamilton at 8.15am on Tuesday.
Something needs to be done to improve a Hamilton intersection before a child gets hit and killed, nearby residents and childcare workers say.
The calls go after a smash at the intersection of Abbotsford and Willoughby streets on Tuesday morning where one car backflipped over a traffic island to land on its roof.
One driver, a man in his late 20s, was treated by ambulance staff after being pulled from the upside down car by childcare workers.
One car failed to stop at a stop sign, turning out into the path of an oncoming car, witnesses say.
Nearby resident Rebecca Hart-Hay was following behind the suntan coloured car on her way to work in the city around 8.15am on Tuesday when she spotted the crash.
A car ended up on its roof after a two car crash on Willoughby St, Hamilton, on Tuesday morning.
“The white car was coming through the intersection, hit him and it flipped over the intersection.”
She said the side influence spun the turning vehicle, rolling it back towards where it had come from.
It landed on its roof.
“He was upside down and the people from the kindergarten and another bystander helped pull him out.
“He chucked him on a chair but [the driver] was fine – conscious, talking, fine.”
The man was taken to a nearby ambulance and was treated by paramedics, while the driver of the ute appeared to be uninjured and was helping police with inquiries.
The near miss left Hart-Hay shaken.
“We have so many crashes here it’s legendary. I come out of here every morning and am like ‘dear God stop at the end of the road because no one ever goes 40kmh’.”
Jo Wade, who works at the childcare centre on the corner of the intersection, said motorists were permanently driving over 40kmh down the street.
“One day this is going to take out a child from Whitiora School or Whitiora Kindergarten, or a parent, because people don’t stop.”
A high population of pedestrians in the area were children going to and from school, she said.
Every duo of months there was a crash.
“There’s going to be a major incident where a child is going to get taken out.
“Something needs to happen here with this intersection otherwise someone is going to die.”
She said a roundabout, traffic lights or speed bumps were all options.
Hart-Hay said traffic lights or a roundabout would go a long way towards improving the intersection.
“People don’t realise it’s 40km and it’s fairly quiet so people speed down here. But there’s kids that cross there, it’s fairly scary.”
Waikato police Senior Sergeant Robbie Hermann said no one was injured in the crash.