The Mackays to Peka Peka Expressway. Photo / David Haxton
The Mackays to Peka Peka Expressway. Photo / David Haxton
The Mackays to Peka Peka Expressway has played a key part in lowering road fatalities throughout the Kāpiti District, Automobile Association (AA) research has found.
From 2018 to 2022, four people died in crashes in Kāpiti, which is a 70 per cent drop in fatalities compared with the past.
The fall in road deaths follows the opening of the Mackays to Peka Peka section of the Kāpiti Expressway in 2017.
“While the drop can’t entirely be attributed to the expressway, the figures suggest it’s a big factor in the improvement,” AA Wellington District Council chairman Geordie Cassin said.
“It’s clear the safety features of the new road have played a significant part in reducing road deaths in the region.
“Since the expressway opened, Kāpiti has had one of the lowest rates of road deaths in the country.”
He said the big drop in road deaths echoed the results of a recent AA Research Foundation study called Safety Benefits of New Roads, which analysed and compared the number of serious injuries and deaths in areas where new highways were built.
“The research found the Mackays to Peka Peka section of the Kāpiti Expressway had the greatest reduction of deaths and serious injuries of the seven roads examined, with a drop of 61.5 per cent.
“In the four years before it opened in 2017 there were 11 serious injuries and two fatalities on the previous highway.
“From 2018 to 2021 there were five serious injuries and no deaths on the old and new routes, only one of which was on the expressway.”
The Mackays to Peka Peka Expressway had meant road deaths had dropped dramatically in Kāpiti, Cassin said.
A section of the Mackays to Peka Peka Expressway. Photo / David Haxton
“The AA Research Foundation analysis shows the improvement here isn’t a one-off.
“It’s evidence that building higher-quality roads makes a massive difference to safety.”
The AA believed the study was the first time analysis in New Zealand had looked at the safety record of both old and new routes following the opening of a new road.
It looked at incidents on both the new and old roads and compared those figures to when there was just one road.
“This approach gives real-world figures for estimating what safety benefits are likely to come from future projects to add new stretches of highway or bypasses of towns.
“The AA sees the research as undeniable confirmation that building new roads and upgrading roads has to be a big part of the Government’s Road to Zerostrategy, which aims to reduce New Zealand’s road toll by 40 per cent by 2030.
“New highways generally use better safety features such as barriers and are designed for modern conditions involving heavier vehicles and higher traffic volumes.
“The Safety Benefits of New Roads [study] shows new standards are having a real and significant impact on positive safety outcomes for road users.”
A second section of the Mackays to Peka Peka Expressway, running from Peka Peka to Ōtaki, was completed late last year.
Waka Kotahi road safety senior manager Fabian Marsh said the crash statistics didn’t come as a surprise.
“Over the past decade, there has been extensive work and investment in the State Highway Network on Wellington’s northern corridor.
“All of the new infrastructure that has been built — the Kāpiti Expressway, Transmission Gully, and more recently, Peka Peka to Ōtaki — have been designed to the latest standards, with improvements for road and driver safety a priority.
“This applies to all our major new expressway projects and supports the Road to Zero Strategy — an overarching vision of a New Zealand where no one is killed or seriously injured in road crashes, with a target of a 40 per cent reduction in deaths and serious injuries by 2030.
“It is important to note that safety improvement work is not just restricted to new expressway projects.
“Safety improvements are being built nationally across existing state highways and local roads to reduce the number of people being killed and seriously injured.
“Applying these lifesaving interventions (median and roadside barriers) is just as important for improving the safety of existing roads as it is for building safety into new roads.”
