Editorial: Kerikeri woman's road safety activism shouldn't be punished

Kapiro Rd resident Nicole Roach took matters into her own hands after years of lobbying unsuccessfully for an 80km/h speed limit at a crash black spot. Photo/Peter de Graaf

Sometimes when the wheels of bureaucracy churn slowly, and the wheels of speeding drivers zoom on by, you need to take action.

On Saturday night, Nicole Roach changed the 100km/h signs on Kapiro Rd, north of Kerikeri, to 80km/h.

Was it legal? No. Was it dangerous. No.

And she did a pretty good job, it's hard to tell the signs are fake.

Social media began buzzing soon after, and the Far North District Council noticed and removed the signs.

But for a good 48 hours she achieved something the council has failed to do, despite regular lobbying from locals in the Kapiro Rd area.

Locals have been demanding an 80km limit for several years and say speed was involved in several serious crashes.

Kids, cyclists and horse riders are in danger - the area has changed, it is no longer a rural road - there are more homes and even an early childhood centre.

In 2014 a roading engineer said a lower limit was unlikely to influence driver behaviour.
Ms Roach has lost family in car crashes and says it " rips my heart apart" every time someone was hurt or killed on her road.

While the 80km/h limit signs have been taken down, the good news is the council says it is working with Vision Kerikeri and the NZ Transport Agency to improve safety on Kapiro Rd. They are looking at multiple ways - not just a speed limit reduction - of how the road could be made safer.

And Nicole Roach shouldn't be penalised for what she did, it was harmless, and she was exercising her rights to protest what she says is inaction by the council.

The obvious question, it seems, is what harm would an 80km limit do?

Nothing it seems. In which case the council could earn some valuable PR points by not prosecuting Nicole Roach, and getting the speed limit changed.