News that safety barriers are finally being implemented along the treacherous Te Mata Peak Rd will provide little comfort to the families of two people who died in recent years when their vehicles plummeted down the mountainside.
Tom Angus Hay was aged 19 when he crashed and died in January, while in 2010 a 72-year-old man died after his car rolled down the mountainside.
Both incidents resulted in Coroner Christopher Devonport recommending safety barriers be installed and only now are these recommendations being actioned, with speed limit restrictions currently out for public consultation and fencing on the road's corners expected to be completed by Sunday.
The coroner's first recommendation did not completely fall on deaf ears, however, as the Hastings District Council initiated, among other things, a NZTA funding request and a risk identification project. After the second recommendation, in which Mr Devonport was required to repeat himself, Te Mata Peak Trust recognised the safety issues and said there was a "juggling act" between retaining the special character of the area and making sure road users were safe.
The safety measures now being implemented have taken far too long to be actioned. When a coroner makes such a recommendation, it surely becomes the No1 priority, even if it is at the expense of council reports or the area's character retention.
