The death of a 'bubbly” elderly local has re-ignited an age-old argument in support of a bypass around Katikati.

88-year-old Shirley O'Connor died in hospital overnight after she was thrown from her mobility scooter and beneath a truck on Monday.

Katikati is 'crazy” with trucks according to one local.

'It is so sad but everyone's staggered such a tragedy hasn't happened before this,” says Paula Vigus, a real estate agent with Eves in the town.

She says Katikati is 'crazy with trucks.”

'I work in the main street and often I can't hear myself speak on the phone because of noise from passing trucks.”

Paula says they've been talking about a bypass for the 19 years she has been in the township.

'It's on the plan, but not in the next ten years. How many lives will it take?” she asks.

'If not a general bypass, how about a truck bypass to take the heavy traffic around Katikati,” suggests Paula. 'Although many of the shopkeepers would disagree because traffic means business.”

And of Monday's tragic accident she adds: 'It wasn't the truckie's fault, he wasn't going fast.

'He just needed the opportunity to drive around the town and not through it.”

Friends say Shirley O'Connor was still acclimatising to the brakes on her mobility scooter. They have described her as having 'a wicked sense of humour.”