Editorial: Road that's not built for speed

If you want to experience the feeling of being a pin waiting to be knocked over on a bowling alley, try sitting in your car in the middle of SH2 at Mangateretere attempting to turn right in busy traffic.

It is one of the most frightening driving experiences you can have and your wheels are not even in motion.

There are, however, plenty of other sets of wheels in motion - dozens of cars and trucks hurtling past to your left and right at 100km/h or more.

Adjacent to Mangateretere School, the turn-off from SH2 to Pilcher Rd is a dangerous place to be stuck like a sitting duck. Your car shakes from the velocity of the vehicles speeding to and from Hastings on either side of you, as you silently pray you live long enough to actually make the right turn.

Crash debris is a reasonably regular sight at this intersection. In May, seven people were taken to Hawke's Bay Hospital, two of them with serious injuries, after a smash involving a van and a utility on this stretch of road.

Thank heavens, then, that sense has finally prevailed and the Clive to Hastings stretch of SH2 has been designated an 80km/h speed zone.

This column called for a speed restriction on this notorious section of road in 2010 following a New Zealand Road Assessment Programme report which showed it was one of the worst stretches of rural state highway for crashes in the country.

The wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly but the New Zealand Transport Agency has now consulted with everyone it needed to and made the change.

This will be a huge relief to staff and the parents of pupils at Mangateretere School, who, with good reason, have long feared an out of control car will smash into the school grounds.

The inappropriateness of a 100km/h limit is not confined to the Mangateretere stretch of SH2. There are businesses, intersections and residences all along the highway. Residents got up a petition calling for a reduction in the speed limit in 2006.

The next step should be to remove the state highway designation from the Clive to Hastings road so traffic-calming measures such as roundabouts can be built where needed. Because while this stretch of roading might be busy it is certainly not built for speed.