Editorial: Deaths demand roads review

The horror crash in Te Puna over the weekend shows improvements need to be made to Bay roads immediately.

It wasn't the Mother's Day weekend I imagined.

Standing on an empty highway in the dark and cold as firemen worked to extract dead bodies from a burned-out vehicle.

But as far as I was concerned the best Mother's Day gift ever was simply that I was able to return home to my family safely tucked up in their beds.

Tragically, this was not so for people involved in Saturday night's horror crash which left three people dead and several injured.

Nor was there any Mother's Day for Tracey O'Brien, the mother-of-two killed a year ago last May on the same stretch of road -- SH2 in Te Puna.

And what sort of Mother's Day was it for Bay mum Rajwinder Kaur whose 9-year-old daughter Jasnoor was killed and her 13-year-old son left in a wheelchair in a crash on a different stretch of road that has also seen several fatalities -- SH29 on the Kaimai Range.

It is too early to determine any cause of Saturday's crash. There must be caution in the rush -- like many on social media -- to blame the road.

Yet with certain stretches of road in the Bay of Plenty becoming crash hot spots, there does need to be an investigation on how to make our roads safer.

Grieving from the loss of her daughter, Mrs Kaur clings on to the hope that new speed signs through the Kaimais would prevent more deaths.

SH29 will soon become the first trial site for weather-triggered speed signs.

Twenty-two electronic signs between SH28 junction and Soldiers Rd would be erected within two months.

NZTA said it had already made other improvements to the SH29 corridor, including side barriers, a wide centre line and right-hand turning bays.

The same attention must be given to other crash hotspots in the Bay and areas of road that are difficult to negotiate must be given priority.

NZTA is spending thousands on a public art display -- a symbol made of power poles on the new Papamoa road.

It needs to direct funding to our dangerous highways, which are becoming decorated in a terrible way by the tragic symbols of white crosses.