Road toll now equal to 2014 total

TRAGEDY: Alexander Trevor Forbes Taiatini, 44, was killed after he was struck by a truck and trailer unit while he and a friend were walking on State Highway 2 at Paengaroa on Thursday night.PHOTO/RUTH KEBER

The latest road fatality in Paengaroa means the road toll in the Western Bay has hit 16 - equal to the number for the whole of last year.

Alexander Trevor Forbes Taiatini, 44, was killed after he was struck by a truck and trailer unit while he and a friend were walking on State Highway 2 at Paengaroa on Thursday night.

No one else was injured.

Police say that, moments before Mr Taiatini was hit, a police officer responding to reports from a member of the public concerned for two pedestrians, was talking to Mr Taiatini's associate.

Mr Taiatini was struck some distance further up the road, a police spokesperson said.

His death comes just over two months after Te Puke kiwifruit worker Lisa Yieng was killed when hit by a 40-tonne logging truck as she was doing a U-turn on SH2, about 5km from Te Puke.

Head of Western Bay road policing Senior Sergeant Ian Campion said preliminary indications were that alcohol may have been a contributing factor in the death of Mr Taiatini.

Mr Campion said police were still building a picture of what happened, and would not comment further at this stage. He urged anyone who had seen the men walking in the area to contact him.

In 2014, there were 14 fatal road incidents, resulting in 16 deaths, which police say included nine head-on crashes and three intersection fatalities - the worst year for road deaths since 2003.

Of the 16 deaths this year, five were head-on crashes and several were at intersections.

Mr Campion said alcohol, speed, fatigue, failure to wear restraints, and people being distracted were also contributing factors in local road deaths.

"It's very disappointing and frustrating for us [police] and all those involved in road safety to be in this position, including the NZ Transport Agency engineers and local body engineers who have worked extremely hard to ensure our roads are safe to drive on. But we will continue to work hard to try to drive home the road safety messages to the public.

"However, it is fair to say that the large percentage of people do drive safely and we just need the hardcore group who don't to improve their driving behaviour."

Mr Campion said that included on the Tauranga Eastern Link. "One of the difficulties we have with the TEL speeding issues is the number of members of the public who argue the road was engineered and built to take speeds higher than 100km/h.

"Some point to other countries such as Germany, which have higher speed limits, but I've been to Germany and know motorists in that country are anal about adhering to speed limits, whereas New Zealanders flout the speed limit."

Mr Campion said until New Zealand drivers came "up to speed" with the rest of the first world and started to obey the road rules and laws, the road toll would not come down.