After years of crashes in the same spot, fed-up residents on a busy Auckland road are asking why more hasn’t been done to fix a notorious corner, fearing it’s a matter of time before someone is killed.

In six months, a section of Hinemoa St in Birkenhead on Auckland’s North Shore that includes a sharp turn near the bottom of a steep hill has seen a car crash into a power pole and a vehicle plough through a brick wall and come to rest in a front yard.

The residents are being backed by a local community board member who previously requested Auckland Transport investigate the corner that long-time residents say has had up to 20 crashes over the past 40 years.

The most recent crash happened just over a week ago on Sunday, June 18.

However, Auckland Transport said it had examined the speed data and there remains a “low to medium level” risk and there is no need to introduce any more “speed calming” measures.

Another drunk driver drove straight into a power pole on Sunday. Nobody was injured. Photo / Supplied

The owner of the property where a crash happened on Christmas Day that saw a motorist slam into a parked car, shunting it through her front wall and into her yard, fears it will take a death to see change.

Aroha Willis said while she was not at home at the time of the accident, any other days she would have normally had afternoon tea with her children in that yard at the time the car crashed.

“It just feels like, what’s it going to take? Does somebody actually have to die for them to take this seriously?

“As a mother of two little children, 2 and 4 years old … it is about keeping our families safe, keeping our children safe. And we can’t wait until somebody is killed to take action.”

The infamous Hinemoa St corner. Map / Google Maps

Long-time resident Keith Salmon said locals have been lobbying for a solution to the Hinemoa St corner for decades.

“There have been a lot of crashes, probably 20 there over the years we’ve lived in that area,” said.

Kaipatiki Local Board member Melanie Kenrick, who requested AT undertake an inquiry into the safety of the road, claimed to have witnessed five crashes in the last 10 years and felt exasperated by their findings.

“I fail to see how it can be a low to medium risk corridor when there have been five accidents which have resulted in significant property damage or damage to cars,” she said.

AT defended its findings: “It’s important that AT makes decisions on road safety matters based on robust long-term data and evidence rather than any one individual incident,” said spokesperson Natalie Polley.

AT had recorded three crashes on Hinemoa St between 2017 and 2022, of which two were at night, two involved alcohol, and one had no injuries.

An earlier 2018 map from AT released under an Official Information Act request marked lower Hinemoa St as having high personal risk and low to medium “collective risk”.

AT had earlier erected a stop sign on neighbouring Awanui St to make the intersection and line markings more visible. Willis questioned the need for this measure claiming the “real problem” was speeding up the hill.

Meanwhile, frustrated residents proposed a number of alternate measures including installing speed bumps, flexible fluorescent markers and signs to reduce speed at the corner to 30km/h.

Both groups say they are eager to collaborate on solutions.