SH2 Tauranga to Katikati speeding drivers putting roadworkers' lives at risk

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi project manager Chris Farnsworth says people speeding through SH2 roadworks have made working in the area "really scary". Photo / George Novak

Contractors working on safety improvements on one of New Zealand's most dangerous highways have revealed how scary it has become as drivers blatantly speed through their worksites, just metres away.

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi project manager Chris Farnsworth says people speeding through SH2 roadworks have made working in the area "really scary". Photo / George Novak

The driving behaviour on State Highway 2 between Katikati and Tauranga has prompted such concern from police that a mobile speed camera has been set up on the roadside this week in an effort to slow motorists.

Within the first five hours of the camera being set up, 157 people were caught speeding.

The stretch of highway is considered one of New Zealand's most dangerous roads, having claimed at least 60 lives within the past 20 years.

Its notorious reputation and death toll prompted a Government rollout of $101 million in safety improvements last year, which are now being worked on.

However, the people trying to do the work are dicing with danger most days.

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi project manager Chris Farnsworth said setting up and dismantling the worksites had become especially "high risk".

"During that time, it's terrible," he said.

"They come up to the advance warning screens [signage] and it's terrible. Our people are running around putting down cones or picking cones up and it's scary, really scary. You do develop extra senses, you really do. When you are doing it you become car aware - of tyre noise, engine noise - but it's still high risk."

It's not the roads that are dangerous, it's the way people drive on it that's dangerous.

Acting Senior Sergeant Wayne Hunter

Contractors had begun installing steel barriers at some worksites to help protect them while they were working but these were not as mobile or simple to install and remove each day.

"One of the reasons we are using steel barriers is because of the risk."

Steel barriers will be installed at the Apata work site within the next few weeks "just because of where it is".

"We know it and what it's going to be like."

Apata was considered a high crash zone and every contractor working in the area knew it, Farnsworth said.

Acting Senior Sergeant Wayne Hunter, the head of Western Bay of Plenty road policing, says people's driving behaviour is a real risk to road workers on SH2. Photo / File

At the Apata work site yesterday, most vehicles travelling through were visibly speeding beyond the temporary 50km/h limit.

Farnsworth said cars clipping road cones at the SH2 worksites was a daily, "almost hourly", occurrence. Often, road cones were the only things between a worker and a car.

While people speeding through sites was not unusual, the Katikati to Tauranga stretch of SH2 had elements such as a narrow corridor and high traffic volume which heightened the risk level for drivers and workers, he said.

Farnsworth said an in-depth and well-thought-out risk assessment was done at each site and the reduced speed limit was a direct result for that area to protect workers and motorists alike.

However, "every time we put this in ... some people try to push the limit a bit".

Farnsworth said he had no answers as to why people continued to speed through worksites but believed some people became blase if they felt roadworks had been going on for too long.

"But we're not going anywhere anytime soon."

The Waihī to Ōmokoroa safety improvements are expected to take about five years, in nine different stages.

There are 12km of temporary speed zones on this stretch of highway. Bluetooth monitoring of people's phones show that, as of 10am yesterday, there was a one-minute delay to the usual transit time for motorists despite the roadworks.

Western Bay of Plenty acting head of road police Sergeant Wayne Hunter said the highway was one of New Zealand's worst for serious injury and fatal crashes.

Police had received complaints from the driving public and roading contractors about the dangerous speeds of vehicles travelling through the roadworks, prompting an increased police presence and the speed camera, he said.

So far, the fastest speed recorded was 81km/h through a 50km zone.

"It's not the roads that are dangerous, it's the way people drive on it that's dangerous. If we can sort that out, we'll find the road toll will come down significantly."

Road deaths in NZ, from 2000 to 2019

Each red dot on the map shows one fatal road crash. Zoom in to explore.

Serious injuries in road crashes, from 2000 to 2019

Each purple dot on the map shows one serious road injury crash. Zoom in to explore.

On March 25, Lisa-Marie Kuku, 24, died after a crash on SH2 near Aongatete.

Kuku joined 59 others who had been killed on the highway in the past 20 years, equating to just under two deaths for each kilometre.

Last year, the transport agency proposed lowering speed limits on the highway by as much as 40km/h in some areas, resulting in about 300 submissions for and against.

At the time, Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter said SH2 was clearly a dangerous road which was why the Government was investing in the safety improvements.

The improvements include road widening, safety barriers, and wider centre lines.

Twenty-six intersections are expected to be made safer from the works.