Kerre Woodham: Unforgiving roads lead to devastating consequences

Just how well served or poorly served are we by the engineering and the design of our roads? Residents of Waiuku are reeling after a crash yesterday that has left an adult and two children dead. Some locals say they've been calling for safety measures to be introduced on Masters Rd, known as ‘roller coaster road’, for years.  

One poor man who was first on the scene yesterday lost his best mate on the same road two years ago and says he fears for his life every time he turns out of his driveway. He said if they could start focusing those speed cameras on actual known death trap sites, like Masters Rd, instead of on random corners or at the bottom of pretty safe downhills where they're just revenue gathering —please could they put those cameras where it would save people's lives instead of just collecting the tax?— “that would be a great start”. We need them on this road. He described the area where the crash occurred as being akin to an old school BMX jump.   

I received an email a couple of days ago from a woman whose friend had his house destroyed in May by a speeding driver in a stolen car. She said she'd spoken at a Whangarei Council meeting to plead for barriers to stop this happening again, but they've refused to fund it, despite the fact that 10 years ago the same house was totalled and had to be rebuilt because the same thing had happened. And pleas from that owner to put barriers were ignored then too.  

Franklin’s Whitford-Maraetai Rd has seen crashes every month. Locals say it's a regular traumatic experience to drive the roads, despite efforts from Auckland Council to improve it. There's been road widening along parts of the stretch, resurfacing of some of the bends in asphalt, and it's reduced the number of accidents there, but locals say they still expect to hear that awful sound of metal crunching every time there's rain.  

What is a dangerous road? It's very subjective, but one indicator is a high number of fatal or serious crashes over an extended period of time. If you look at Old North Road in Waimauku, from 2014-2019 there were 13 deaths and serious injuries in five years. State Highway 2 from Katikati to Tauranga, one of the highest risk roads in the Bay of Plenty: between 2009-2018, 27 people were killed and 77 seriously injured. In response to that, speed limits were lowered in a number of places, and then flexible wire rope median barriers were put in on sections of State Highway 2 South of Katikati. But you'll remember we've had people phoning in about those because they say it's impossible to turn into side streets – it makes residents lives a misery having to drive for kilometres before they can turn around. So yes, it might stop cars from crashing into one another on a dangerous stretch of road, but it also means risky behaviour from those who are looking to avoid travelling many kilometres just to turn around and come back again. State Highway 1 from Kawakawa to Springs Flat, Northland: 14 deaths, 41 serious injuries from 2012-2016.  

There is the factor of people not wearing a seat belt, that causes deaths, where they've been drinking or drug impaired, of course that comes into play, but at the same time, there are stretches of road that New Zealanders drive that are completely and utterly unforgiving. You make one small mistake, and humans do, a moment of distraction, one small mistake, and the consequences are absolutely devastating because the roads are unforgiving. Many of them are still the goat tracks that they once were. Just had a bit of metal put on them and call them a highway.  

At what point do you get a road engineered? And again, it probably comes back to the resource management and the RMA and the problems we have with getting permission to reconfigure roads around the country. You would think though, in the case of the woman who emailed me, that putting a barrier up on the corner to stop a car leaving t

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Kerrywood and Morning's podcast from News Talks.
He'd be.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Just how well served or poorly served are we by
the engineering and the design of our roads. Residents of
Wayouku a reeling after a crash yesterday that has left
an adult and two children dead. Some locals say they've
been calling for safety measures to be introduced on Masters Road,

(00:32):
known as roller coaster Road, for years. One poor man,
who was first on the scene yesterday, lost his best
mate on the same road two years ago and says
he fears for his life every time he turns out
of his driveway. He said, if they could start focusing
those speed cameras on actual known death trap sites like
Master's Road instead of on random corners or at the

(00:55):
bottom of pretty safe downhills where they're just revenue gathering. Please,
could they put those cameras where it would save people's
lives instead of just collecting the tax.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
That would be a great start.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
He said, we need them on this road. He described
the area where the crash occurred as being akin to
an old school BMX jump. So the community's still dealing
with that. But it's interesting because I received an email
a couple of days ago too, from a woman whose
friend had his house destroyed in May by a speeding

(01:30):
driver in a stolen car. She said she'd spoken at
a full fugad a council meeting to plead for barriers
to stop this happening again, but they've refused to fund it,
despite the fact that ten years ago the same house.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
Was totaled and had to be rebuilt.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Because the same thing had happened, and pleas from that
owner to put barriers and were ignored then too. Franklin's
Whitford Maritei Road has seeing crashes every month. Local say
it's a regular traumatic experience.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
To drive the roads.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Despite efforts from Auckland Council to improve it. There's been
road widening along parts of the stretch, res resurfacing of
some of the bends in Ashveldt and it's reduced the
number of accidents there, but locals say they still expect
to hear that awful sound of metal crunching every time
there's rain. What is a dangerous road It's very subjective,

(02:29):
but one indicator is a high number of fatal or
serious crashes over an extended period of time.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
If you look at old North Road in.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Waimalku from twenty fourteen to twenty nineteen. There were thirteen
deaths in five years and serious injuries there. State Highway
Too from Katikati to Totonga one of the highest risk
roads in the Bay of Plenty. Between two thousand and
nine and twenty eighteen, twenty seven people were killed seventy

(03:01):
seven seriously injured. So on response to that, speed limits
were lowered in a number of places, and then flexible
wire rope median barriers were put in on sections of
State Highway to south of Katakuti. But you remember we've
had people phoning in about those because they say it's
impossible to turn into side streets you have to go.

(03:23):
You know, it makes the residents lives a misery having
to drive for kilometers before they can turn around. So yes,
it might stop cars from crashing into one another on
a dangerous stretch of road, but it also means risky
behavior from those who are looking to avoid traveling many
kilometers just to turn around and come back again. State

(03:48):
Highway one North from Karawa Kawa to Springs Flat, Northland.
This was part of the Radio New Zealand story on
what is a dangerous road and the most dangerous roads
in New Zealand. This was counted another one. It's a
state State Highway one stretch of road from Springs Flat
north of Camo to Kawa Kawa fourteen deaths, forty one

(04:11):
serious injuries from twenty twelve to twenty sixteen. There is
the factor of people not wearing a seat belt that
causes deaths where they've been drinking or drug impaired. Of
course that comes into play, but at the same time,

(04:32):
there are stretches of road that New Zealanders drive that
are completely and utterly unforgiving. You make one small mistake,
and humans do. We're not robots, and even they make mistakes.
If you look at the automated cars, a moment of distraction,
one small mistake, and the consequences are absolutely devastating. Because

(04:55):
the roads are unforgiving. Many of them are still the
goat tracks that they once were, just had a bit
of metal put on them and call them a highway.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
At what point do you get a.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
Road engineered again? It probably comes back to the resource
management and the RMA and the problems we have with
getting permission to reconfigure roads around the country to try

(05:36):
and improve them. To mitigate against any kind of driver error.
You would think, though, in the case of the woman
who emailed me that putting a barrier up on the
corner to stop a car leaving the road barreling into
a house for the third time, then surely a barrier

(05:57):
fence wouldn't be a huge cost of ratepayers of fun
at

Speaker 1 (06:01):
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