Hāwea Flat is less of a sleepy hippy hamlet than its reputation suggests, but some residents are concerned it may take an accident for the Queenstown Lakes District Council to realise it.

Windmill Corner residents have been concerned for some time that the current speed limit of 100kph along Kane Road from Windmill Corner through to the Hawea Flat School is too high, considering the amount of traffic and the number of children in the area throughout the day.

Despite the small number of houses in the immediate vicinity of Windmill Corner, more than 30 Te Kura o Tititea Mount Aspiring College students use the bus stop there daily, and 230 children attend the Hāwea Flat Primary School about one kilometre along the road - some of whom walk and bike to and from school every day.

Earlier this year there were two accidents within one week at the corner. One saw a car upside down on the lawn outside a house; the other saw a local teacher’s car flipped over next to the bus stop after an oncoming car crossed the centre line and collided with her. 

Traffic speed and corner-cutting is common, residents said this week. 

“It’s a forgotten area,” one resident told the Wanaka App. “I got shuffled around council for weeks about an issue. No one wants to know.” 

Many vehicles ignore the 75kph suggested speed for the corner, she said. “The trucks just rip around there.”

Windmill Corner resident Susan Allison approached the QLDC a month ago seeking a speed reduction for the area, from 100kph to 70kph, but council’s reply was, although it would add the request to its programme of intended Speed Limits Reviews, “a speed reduction in this area is unlikely due to the very minor amount of development in this area”.

Earlier this year another Windmill Corner resident approached the QLDC about the possibility of installing warning signs about children crossing the road. Council’s reply was it would not install signs, as “there needs to be a considerable number of … children around every day for these signs to work as a warning”.

Susan Allison is worried it may take another accident for anything to change at the corner. 

“I think they’ve missed the point. It’s not just the number of houses at Windmill Corner, it’s the number of people and the amount of traffic,” she said. 

“It’s all the children and the school bus on that corner every day, and people walking their dogs and horses and so on.”

Susan believes the QLDC should assess the speed limit for the area from Windmill Corner to the school. 

“The council should be looking at it as a growth area - the whole area needs to be sorted out. It’s only going to get bigger and bigger.”

QLDC spokesperson Michele Poole told the Wānaka App concerned parents have the option of approaching the school bus company to see if the pick-up/drop-off zone could be moved. Council follows the NZTA’s guideline of 50 children as “a considerable number”, she said.

The speed limit is lower in the area known as “the triangle” (within Windmill Corner), she said. The speed limit on two sides of the triangle is 50kph, while the speed limit on the open road side is 100kph.

The NZTA is currently reviewing the rules for speed limit setting. Once the review is complete, possibly later this year, the QLDC may review speed limits, including Kane Road. 

“In the meantime there are already advisory signs bringing the speed down to 75kph through the corner,” Michele said.

PHOTO: Wānaka App