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Papakura Courier : May 22nd 2013
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013 NETWORK Unbeatable coverage of readers 15+ 808,000 Auckland's most powerful media Ph 09 525 0666 Source: Nielsen CMI Q3 2011--Q2 2012 Have we got NEWS for you! News that you can Read, Hear & Watch! Our amazing new online editions take the news into a new dimension. Reads like a newspaper with easy-to-read turning pages -- and packed with extra features that connect you to news like never before. News coverage that puts you on the scene with Turn the page to a new era in local news -- the total multi media news experience! Just click on "Latest Edition" at www.papakuracourier.co.nz Turn on to our online editions NOW. The latest local news online -- anywhere, anytime. MULTIMEDIA YOUR NEWS Let's stop the carnage By DUBBY HENRY Please stop: Franklin Local Board chairman Andy Baker and Drury resident Leonie Boulger want the Waihoehoe Rd-Appleby Rd intersection sorted, after Leonie's husband Craig was nearly killed inasmashonMay4. Photo: DUBBY HENRY Lucky escape: The crumpled wreck of Craig Boulger's car. THE skid marks can still be seen on the grass verge on the corner of Waihoehoe Rd. They show where a car ended up after its driver failed to heed a stop sign at the end of Appleby Rd in Drury and T-boned Craig Boulger's vehicle at high speed. ItwasMay4andMr Boulger was driving three children -- two of them his, the third a friend's -- to a rugby game. The car ploughed into the driver's door, cracking Mr Boulger's ribs and pelvis, puncturing his lungs, dam- aging his liver and spleen and causing internal bleed- ing. His son's sternum was cracked but the other two boys got away with minor injuries. The father of four was soon on his way to Middle- more Hospital thanks to a quick-thinking neighbour who called an ambulance. He lost nearly 6 litres of blood and technically died twice but was resuscitated. The driver of the other car walked away from his vehicle with only minor injuries. Mr Boulger is still in hos- pital on the long road to recovery but his wife Leonie is now on a mission to get the intersection sorted out once and for all. She is grateful to the friends, the family, our com- munity who have been incredibly supportive'' as well as the emergency staff who saved her husband's life. But it could have been very different, she says. All these things go through your head. What if he'd hit the car further back? He would have hit my friend's boy and he wouldn't have survived the impact. If they had been going the other way it could have hit two of the boys,'' she says. At the end of the day we were lucky. But someone else may not be.'' Police did not provide crash records but neighbour Trudy McRae says she has seen four crashes there since moving on to a corner section a year ago. The problem is that people don't stop at Appleby Rd, says Franklin Local Board chairman Andy Baker, who also lives in Drury. A combination of poor signage, roadside shrubbery and a ridge in the road mean people don't see the stop sign in time to brake. Mr Baker has joined Mrs Boulger's calls for improved safety at the notorious'' intersection. There have always been near misses. It's driver error. This is just people not seeing and not being vigilant,'' he says. It's people asleep at the wheel and driving straight on through.'' But even a nana driver'' like her husband couldn't avoid a crash, Mrs Boulger says. Craig said he literally just saw him out of the corner of his eye and he said it was just like a horse gal- loping straight at you. There was no time to react -- there was nothing.'' Auckland Transport has heard their pleas. A site visit with the Serious Crash Unit has resulted in the road markings being repainted and plans to add new warn- ing signs and cut down the shrubbery that blocks the view on to Waihoehoe Rd. Mrs Boulger is happy about that news but wants the work done sooner rather than later. And she wants drivers to take more care along Drury's country roads. It is astounding how many local drivers drive straight through the stop sign, she says. I just want them to be aware that it's a very dangerous intersection.''
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