Tamaki Drive – 20m from another hell. Comment from Callum Mc Nair, CEO of the TelstraClear Challenge – Auckland Harbour Bridge event. 
The court case to prosecute the motorist involved in Jane Bishop’s tragic death under a truck on Tamaki Drive in November 2010, ended with the charges against the driver being dismissed. Jane was killed at a notorious pinchpoint on a tight bend on the road, crushed under the wheels of a passing truck. The truck was in peak hour evening traffic, travelling at about 5kmh. I have the greatest sympathy for the many people affected by her death, including the truck driver, the motorist, their families, Jane Bishop’s family / friends, and the investigating police / authorities.
Whilst, thankfully, such grave consequences are rare, the “opportunity” for such tragedies are not. They are currently an everyday probability. I am a huge advocate for cycling, and not because I like wearing lycra. Cycling has many social, health, mental, environmental and economic benefits – and great fun. In promoting cycling as one of my favourite pastimes and as an alternative to using my car for transport, I find myself in turmoil, as I know there are dangers in taking to our roads.
There will always be ‘accidents’ but this was a crash that should not have occurred. Jane usually rode on the shared path beside the road, but the Court was told that the path beside the crash site is very narrow, and was full of pedestrians at the time of the crash. The pinchpoint where Jane was killed is created by roadsite carparking on the on the headland by Kelly Tarltons. These parking spaces were known to be extremely hazardous by Auckland City Council, because they were highlighted in a report commissioned by the Council from Cycle Action Auckland in 2006. The report asked for urgent action to remove the carparks. The Council ignored this advice – and took no action.
Auckland Transport removed a few of the pinchpoint carparks 2 days after the fatal crash.More parking spaces need to be removed for the safety of cyclists riding this headland section of Tamaki Drive. The Police Officer reporting to the court yesterday on Jane’s death commented “ The pinch point lane was 3.6m wide at the point of the crash. The situation was “pretty dangerous” but was not unique. To me, it would appear to a large extent that they have moved the situation 20m down the road.
20m down the Road the same tragedy awaits – today, this morning, right now!!
And this is not an isolated “pinch point”. There are many more throughout the City; they are black spots for cyclists. Some have already been identified by Cycle Action Auckland; and are await a tragedy like this to occur again.
If you know of any, do us all a favour by letting Auckland Transport know about them – today. If you let Cycle Action know as well, they will stay on AT’s case.
Without this collective action and rapid responses from Auckland Transport, another life will be sacrificed – maybe 20m away
