Crash highlights poor roads
The single vehicle crash happened on Longbeach Rd near Longbeach School. Photo: File image
A crash has highlighted the poor surface of some Mid Canterbury roads.
In wet weather about 12.45pm last Saturday, a car slid off Longbeach Rd, near Longbeach School, and hit a power pole.
One ambulance responded and a patient was assessed and treated at the scene.
Ashburton Volunteer Fire Brigade chief Jeff Marshall said the driver was able to walk away from the crash.
Firefighters told authorities after the crash the road's ''shiny'' surface may have contributed.
Marshall said this had prompted the Ashburton District Council to grit the road.
Marshall believed the road needed resealing, as its seal had come to the surface and the chip had disappeared into the seal. Motorists also needed to drive to the conditions.
''It's a case of drivers being aware of those really shiny surface roads, especially when it's raining,'' Marshall said.
District council group manager of infrastructure and open spaces Neil McCann confirmed it had gritted the road after a request from police following the crash.
''The site has also been added to our gritting schedule,'' McCann said.
McCann said the road had a ''flushed surface'', caused by excess bitumen flushing, or bleeding, in the summer.
''So we are planning to watercut the excess bitumen off the surface of the road to restore surface texture and working with our contractor to get a watercutting machine to Ashburton to do the work as soon as possible.
'A watercutting machine uses water at high pressure to restore texture and traction,'' McCann said.
In the meantime, the district council was adding a second sign to the location advising motorists to slow down.
There were other sites on the district council's list for watercutting this winter. They were Beach Rd East between Trevors Rd and Cochranes Rd, and Seafield Rd at the intersection with Christys Rd and Fairfield Rd.
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