Speeding cars come to grief on city road

Residents of Naylor St in Hamilton East are fed up with speeding, out-of-control motorists ploughing into properties.

Young, often intoxicated, inexperienced or speeding drivers have crashed into garages, fences and power poles after losing control near the intersection of Naylor and Fox Sts.

The latest crash was about a fortnight ago when a man lost control of his car and smashed sideways into a power pole, reducing it to rubble.

Brendon and Maria Lally, who have lived on the street for 10 years, have become so concerned they want to create more awareness about the road.

Mrs Lally said speeding drivers appeared to be taken by surprise as they travelled towards the city along Cambridge Rd, which had a slight kink and narrowed as it turned into Naylor St.

"And they just lose it and overcorrect and end up in a mixture of properties."

Several residents spoken to by the Waikato Times have heard or witnessed at least six injury-related crashes over the past decade. However, Hamilton police said Naylor St did not stand out on their list of boy-racer hangouts.

Mrs Lally said one of the worst accidents was 12 months ago when a young woman lost control of her car and ploughed through two garages "... you hear them and you think ... if anybody's walking down the street they could get taken out."

Mr Lally was concerned at the number of trucks using the road despite council bylaws being in place to stop them. He suggested a permanent or regular roadside speed camera would help slow traffic down.

Tauranga's Andrew Kane, who regularly stays with his Naylor St-based mother, had also witnessed a number of crashes. He said it had got to the stage that when crashes occurred, residents brought brooms ready to clean up.

Greig Gonano lived on Naylor St for 11 years and said he witnessed "multiple" crashes before shifting to Nixon St a year ago.

Waikato road policing manager Inspector Leo Tooman said there were five crashes on Naylor St in 2009, three at an intersection. Four of them were non-injury.

As it was a main route for Hamilton East, Waikato University and Hamilton city, the statistics weren't too bad. "At this stage information received doesn't flag it as a pressure point ... however, it would be fair to say there's larger traffic flows than on other residential streets around the city."

Police were aware "two individuals" meeting the profile of "illegal street racers" lived on Naylor St.

- © Fairfax NZ News