A number of our members have recently come to us with something already brewing in the back of our minds: For the last years, in the former Auckland City area, Council has been constructing more and more new driveways with a 50mm high “kerb lip”.

This kerb lip was, according to our inquiries, included in the standard design several years ago to ensure that motorists drive slower when entering properties. We are somewhat sceptical about the success there (some effect is likely, but it hasn’t removed the issue).

Key however is that that 50mm bump is hell on cycle tyres. Worse, when hit at an angle, it can cause you to fall.

Some members also noted that apart from entering their own driveways, they sometimes need to use a driveway as an “escape route” from dangerous on-road situations. We also feel that the lip must be difficult for anyone in a wheelchair or mobility scooter.

Council reports that the 50mm lip is in fact not supposed to simply be built that way – but contractors often forget that the top of the 50mm lip is to be graded (“chamfered”) off diagonally by 20mm. From personal experience at some of the driveways of our committee members, even when chamfered, the lip remains very harsh – and retains much of the risk if hit at an angle.

In recent communications with our members, we heard of several incidents where these new driveways did indeed cause injury crashes – though we suspect that many of these never got reported to Council or the police, as there was no other vehicle (directly) involved.

In the meantime, we have now begun to follow up the issue more strongly with our contacts in Auckland Transport, and are meeting to discuss ways forward – ideally, removing this lip totally from the design standards, or replacing it with something much more gentle and safer for cyclists. To our knowledge, the other Councils that were merged into the Super City did not have these lips at all, and with the risk they cause, we don’t think anyone should keep building them.

In the meantime, while we talk to Auckland Transport, we want to ask all our members and friends within the former Auckland City Council area to:

• Report to Auckland Transport any new (~2-3 years max) driveways in your area that you consider unsafe as described above. Particularly if the “chamfer” has not been applied, or if you had any incidents with the driveways.
• Give comment here (in the blog comments) about these issues, especially if you had serious incidents.

As always, be firm but polite on these issues. The kerb lip is a classical case of unintended consequences from good intentions. Let’s help AT and cycling both by raising the issue.

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5 Responses to “How safe is your driveway?”

1. LarryH says:

   July 29, 2012 at 7:59 pm

   I recently had an email conversation with AT about this, and they said it was to keep rainwater out of the driveways.
   • admin says:

     July 29, 2012 at 8:19 pm

     Thanks for the information about your interaction with them, LarryH. There may be a small benefit for stormwater flow, true – but in our view, not enough to create a safety hazard. If that is raised by them during our discussions, we’ll see about a design that achieves both. Maybe chamfering the whole lip would work.
2. Jym says:

   July 31, 2012 at 4:27 pm

   Thanks for raising this topic as I have noted this issue as well. Totally agree with what you say. Will report a location to AT.
3. LucyJH says:

   August 5, 2012 at 6:48 pm

   There are two drive ways at the top of Bond Street (Great North Road side) that were built like this within the last few years. They have a serious lip and it hasn’t been chambered at all. I often need to turn right across Bond Street (I’m not just riding on the footpath, I actually have a destination that is on Bond Street to get to) and because it is so busy it is often safest to do it up the top. I then need to exit the road sharpish to get out of the path of the rapidly oncoming traffic. But I can’t because these two drive ways are so high/steep that you have to approach them at almost a 90 degree angle or you will fall off. The whole thing irritates me mightily – as does the lack of cycle lanes on Bond Street itself – and I worry someday I’ll just have to bail over the edge onto the footpath to avoid getting run over.

   Also, can they get rid of the first two carparks at the top of Bond Street on the New North Road side? They are a serious hazard if you are coming down the hill from Kingsland and you suddenly have to swing out right to avoid them…

   Finally, can’t they put some kind of lip onto Bond Street so that people can get down off it onto the North Western cycle way more easily? Right now you have to come to a full stop and lift your bike up over the massive kerb to get onto the little path that leads down. It seems somewhat crazy.

   Sorry, a little off topic I know but I just remembered this and wanted to rant a bit.
   • LucyJH says:

     August 5, 2012 at 6:52 pm

     So just to clarify. The two evil drive ways are on the western side of Bond Street at the top near Great North Road.

     The two evil carparks are at the top of the New North Road end of Bond STreet, alos on the Western side.

     The missing lip off Bond Street down onto the North Western is on the Eastern side, just after the bridge.