Graham Mathews, Byron Bay.
Our darkest fears about increased traffic flow in Pinegroves Road generally and the resulting potential for accidents at the corner with Tyagarah Road are, sadly, now being realised. It appears that one of the Worthy Councillor’s mini-storage tenants, a lady of mature age, who has been camping in her car in Pinegroves Road adjacent to the intersection, and who has been accessing her storage unit several times daily, collided yesterday with a car travelling from the Highway towards Myocum. It is a particularly nasty junction, virtually blind in both directions, and it is extremely fortunate that, on this occasion, no-one appears to have been seriously injured. The mini-storer lady’s car is, apparently, a write off and,as a result, she is currently stranded in her immobilised, makeshift motor home in Pinegroves Road and, no doubt, accessing her possessions down the Road. on foot.
All joking aside, this is indeed a serious issue. As the writer has repeatedly pointed out, in written objections to successive Development Applications and in letters to yourself in these columns, the Hunters’ Planning Consultants have again and again denied the need for a Traffic Management Report in connection with these proposals and, amazingly, Council’s planning staff and, indeed, the members of the previous Council, in approving these developments, have gone along with this view. Simply put, it beggars belief that the sort of activity proposed in the recently lodged DA won’t escalate traffic volumes to a level inconsistent with the safety of the residents, traffic passing along Tyagarah Road and, indeed, the tenants of the facility themselves. one might hope that this recent non-life threatening collision will not be repeated but I fear that it may.
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