Seeing his daughter come home shaken from a near miss with a speeding vehicle was the final straw for Martin Bramley, who has mounted his claim for reduced speeds in Papamoa.

In the last month, Martin has ramped up his efforts to have Tauranga City Council seriously consider looking into improving road safety along residential Papamoa streets, particularly Dickson Road.

Dickson Road resident Martin Bramley is leading a community group wanting safer roads and speed limits in the Papamoa area. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

'The problem is that Dickson Road is constantly used for speeding cars, buses, and motorbikes,” says Martin. 'This can happen at any time of the day.

'On a daily basis I see cars that travel over the 50km/h speed limit and during the evening boy racers are flying along there at 100 or 200. They use it as speedway.”

A resident of the Papamoa road for 13 years, he believes speed concerns have become increasingly worrying as the area continues to grow with new subdivisions.

Added to the woes are the fact that Dickson Road, a 'straightaway” running parallel to Papamoa Beach Road, is far too narrow, causing residents to park on the verge or even the footpath out of the path of buses and vehicles.

'Dickson Road is used as the quickest way to Papamoa Plaza or Parton Road,” he explains, 'and is in constant use, including a Bus Route, rather than driving along Papamoa Beach Road which has only one row of residents along it.

'It is becoming a main road and there is so much extra traffic.”

In an effort to try and turn the tide he created a Facebook page titled ‘Papamoa Road Safety Group to stop speeding vehicles on our suburban roads‘ late last month with immediate success, picking up 42 followers recounting their own concerns within 24 hours.

And although the police do a great job and are seen regularly along the roads, he suggests Dickson Road has concrete speed humps installed strategically opposite each beach access.

But he believes the best way to gain any traction is to encourage the public to submit on the council's Long Term Plan, which is currently out for consultation.

Tauranga City councillor Steve Morris, in an emailed response to Martin, also pointed him in the direction of Papamoa East Evacuation & Road Safety Group - a group that has been quite successful in advocating safety measures on Papamoa Beach Road, with some road widening, pedestrian refuges, and a roundabout all planned in the next two years.

There is just over a week left for the public to make submissions on the council's plans over the next few years, with a 4pm deadline on April 20.

The Long Term Plan, (formerly known as the ten year plan) is the exercise every council is required to go through. Because of its statutory nature, actions included in the plan are far more likely to happen.

It's the plan that decides how much is going to be spent on maintaining the city's existing infrastructure and the maintenance of the council buildings, the historic village, the athletics track - plus the delivery of services like lawn mowing , buying new library books, spending money on tsunami evacuation routes, parking pricing and so on.

But Martin is demanding swifter action from council.

'Because it's a 10 year plan it might be put on the back burner,” he says. 'And I don't want that to happen - I want something done now before someone gets killed.

'My daughter was almost killed the other day, and that's what sparked me. She was riding a scooter home from school and a car came at her going fast and she had to swerve out of the way. She came home shaking.”

Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby says there is no doubt there are safety issues concerning speeding and congestion given council inherited the narrow stretch of road.

Stuart, who owned a house on the road for a decade, says remedies in the past have seen speed humps installed at the eastern end towards Parton Road, and though they do slow speed they present their own issues.

Police have been monitoring the area on an ongoing basis.

'We are doing data gathering now,” says Stuart, 'before we hear submissions or make decisions on our ten year plan.

'So other than the physical remedy, education and awareness is the best remedy.”