John MacDonald: Traffic lights aren't the solution for Church Corner

Let me paint you a picture. A picture of over-the-top traffic management.  

So you’re heading up Riccarton Road in Christchurch, and you get to the traffic lights near Hanson’s Lane where the Athol McCully garden shop used to be back in the day – just before the Woolworths supermarket.  

You get to that intersection and the lights are red. So you stop, of course. And then, when they change to green, you keep going up Riccarton Rd towards the church on the corner.  

And you get to that intersection where traffic coming from Sockburn and Main South Rd has to give way to you, if you’re heading west and veering to the right to go up Yaldhurst Rd.  

At the moment, you can just cruise straight through because there’s a Give Way sign controlling the drivers coming from Main South Road who want to turn right to get onto Riccarton Rd to, maybe, head all the way into town and head over to Ilam.  

But after a decision by the Christchurch City Council yesterday, instead of drivers heading westbound having the automatic right of way and being able to head up Yaldhurst Rd without stopping, they’ll come to a set of traffic lights at that intersection.  

So, if you’re heading west up Riccarton Rd, you’ll stop at the lights at Hansen’s Lane and then, potentially, have to stop again a little bit further up the road.  

If you’re veering to the left to go down Main South Road there’ll be no change, but if you’re heading up Yaldhurst from Church Corner, there’ll be another set of lights to deal with. Over the top.  

It’s over the top because traffic at Church Corner is going to become way more congested than it is now.   

It’s over the top because, even though the numbers say it’s one of the most dangerous intersections in the city, does it mean that we need traffic flights at all the spots around town where muppets are just incapable of the simple requirement to give way?  

As someone who got in touch about this this morning said, roads in Christchurch seem to be designed to accommodate the 1% who probably shouldn’t be behind the wheel in the first place.  

And that’s what we’re seeing here with this Church Corner decision.  

In some respects, I should be congratulating the council for finally making an actual decision on what to do at Church Corner, because it’s been a debacle.   

The local community board met three times and couldn’t reach agreement. They’d been mulling this one over for about a year. There were accusations of the board being dysfunctional – which I couldn’t argue with because, from what was reported, it was very dysfunctional.  

In fact, the way that particular community board dealt with this Church Corner thing was a great advertisement for doing away with these boards altogether.   

So they met three times and it seemed to turn into a bunfight every time.  

So the community board members threw their hands in the air and said ‘let’s get the council to decide’. And the council, being the council, did the old consultation thing. Then, the council, being the council, threw the idea of traffic lights into the mix.  

And, because that hadn’t been an option in the first round of consultation, the council, being the council, did another round asking people what they thought.  

42% of people said they wanted the current right hand turn from Main South Road onto Riccarton Road gone, and a pedestrian crossing put in.  

59% of people said they wanted traffic lights and some form of pedestrian crossing.  

9% said they didn’t have a preference – why you would actively take part in a consultation process and not state a preference, I’ll never know.  

If I’d put a submission in, I wouldn’t have voted for any of the options put forward by the council. Instead, I would have tol

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Now let me let me start by painting you a picture,
a picture which I think is another example of OTT
traffic management. So you're heading up Ricketten Road all right
from the town end, and you get to the traffic
lights near Hansen's Lane, you know where the ath or
mcaulay Garden scene it used to be back in the day,

(00:35):
just before you get to the war With Supermarket. So
you get to that intersection and the lights are red,
so you stop, of course, then when they change to green,
you keep going up Ricketten Road towards the church on
the corner, and you're planning to head up towards your test.

(00:58):
Now at the moment you can just cruise straight through
because there's a giveaway sign controlling the drivers coming from
the main south road end who want to turn right
onto Rickendon Road to maybe head all the way into
town or go to anamor or whatever. But after a
decision by the cristi at City Council yesterday and instead

(01:20):
of those drivers heading westbound having the automatic right of
way and being able to head up the Aldhurst Road
without stopping, they will come to a set of traffic
lights at that intersection. So again, this is the picture.
This is the picture of Ott traffic management. So if
you're heading up Rickton Road in the west direction, you'll

(01:42):
stop at the lights at Hanson's Lane and then potentially
you have to stop again a little bit further up
the road. I've tried to look online to find out
what that distance is. In a non technical term, I
think it's next to nothing. Now, if you're veering to
the left to go down Main South Road, there'll be

(02:03):
no change. But if you're heading up the Aldhurst Church
Corner there will be another set of traffic lights to
deal with. Three words for you. Over the top. It's
over the top because traffic at Church Corner is going
to become way more congested than it is now. It's
over the top because even though the number say it's

(02:24):
one of the most dangerous intersections in the city, does
that mean we need traffic lights at all the spots
around town where muppets just seem to be incapable of
the simple requirement to give way. As someone who's already
been in touch with us about this this morning says,
they say roads in Christchurch seem to be designed to
accommodate the one percent who probably shouldn't be behind the
wheel in the first place, and that is what we're

(02:46):
seeing here with this church corner decision. Now, in some respects,
I suppose I should be actually congratulating the council for
finally making it making an actual decision on this, because
this has been a debarcle. You know how much of
a saga this has been, don't you. We had the
local community board, they met three times, couldn't reach an agreement.

(03:08):
This is the way Perna Hall's will hornby Rickolan Community Board.
They'd been mulling it over for about a year and
there were accusations of the board being dysfunctional, which by
the way, I couldn't disagree with because from what was
reported that was very dysfunctional. Are that board in fact?
The way that particular community board dealt with this church

(03:29):
corner thing, it was a great advertisement for doing away
with these boards altogether. Why would you bother? So they
met three times, it seemed to turn into a bunfight
every time, and they threw the hands in the air
said to a buger it you can decide you being
the Council and the Council being the council, they did
the consultation thing, then the Council being the council after

(03:52):
that did the consultation thing. They threw the idea of
traffic lights into the mix, and because that hadn't been
an option in the first round of consultation, Council being
the Council did another round asking people what they thought,
and forty two percent of people said they wanted the
current right hand turn from Mansouth Road onto Ricket and
Rode gone and a pedestrian crossing put in. Fifty nine

(04:14):
percent of people said they wanted the traffic lights in
some form of pedestrian crossing. Nine percent said they didn't
have a preference. Now, why you would actively take part
in a consultation process and not state of preference, I
don't know. Maybe they send it them by mistake. If
I put a submission in, I wouldn't have voted for
any of the options put forward by the council and

(04:34):
said I would have said, ah, you've forgotten Option D. Guys,
Option D do nothing, change nothing, because that's what I
honestly think. I honestly think that if you're going to
put in traffic lights just because if you bozos can't
be bothered giving way, then you may as will put
them everywhere, because it happens everywhere, and turning Church Corner

(04:56):
into more of a traffic shambles is not the answer.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
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