The group said their concerns had fallen on deaf ears over the years, however, and things were now so bad they had no choice but to take matters into their own hands.
Murray Harrison has operated his various businesses, including panel beating, car painting and Harrison's Cape Runner Tours, from 123 North Rd, Kaitaia for about 23 years.
Harrison said he had been talking about the issue for more than 10 years and had witnessed conditions gradually worsen.
"There have been several near misses here as our trucks have pulled out and cars have come close to going right under them," Harrison said.
"I'm concerned about when tourism spikes again it will be very dangerous. It should be 50km/h here, not 70km/h."
Paul Watson started his business Watson Panel and Paint around 40 years ago, which his son now owns, and agreed the road was becoming increasingly dangerous.
He said he had seen several accidents along the road, one ending up near the front of his workshop.
"There was a crash which ended up right out the front of our property and where a few people died," Watson said.
"It's getting really difficult to drive out onto the road, especially further up where the speed is at 100km/hr."
The change in land use along Awanui Straight SH1 in recent years has occurred because of the land being developed and zoned "industrial" under the Far North District Council district plan.
The Te Hiku Community Board confirmed it had requested Waka Kotahi NZTA consider a reduction in speed for the area, after recognising the increase in congestion, particularly during peak times.
A Te Hiku Community Board representative said Waka Kotahi NZTA was, however, yet to conduct a speed review of this section of the State Highway 1.
Far North Roading is situated on Whangatane Drive, at the top end of the proposed new 50km/h zone.
FNR managing director Manu Burkhardt said he too felt it was important to review speed limits in accordance with new development and population growth.
"The Far North is the fastest-growing region in Northland and this is one of the busiest roads," Burkhardt said.
"When roads get to over 10,000 vehicles per day, that is usually when Waka Kotahi NZTA change the classification in terms of the level of temporary traffic management requirements- this section of road is nearing that level of traffic.
"There aren't many roads in Northland in that category and with a lot more development to come, it just makes sense to reduce the speed."
Councillor Radich said he got involved with the issue about two and a half years ago and claimed, despite his best efforts, nothing had been addressed.
He said moving forward, the only way to get things done was for the community to fix the speed issue themselves.
"I know it's not the way to do things, but when no one wants to listen, you don't have much choice," Radich said.
"We've been speaking to Steve Mutton, from Waka Kotahi NZTA, and invited him to come here to see us, but he never has.
"We had a meeting amongst ourselves last week and we're giving them 21 days to do something. We've got our signs and if they don't do anything by then, we'll do it ourselves."
Waka Kotahi NZTA was approached for comment for this story but was instead sent a statement about its new Road to Zero campaign.
Regional Relationships director Steve Mutton did not respond to specific questions regarding the stretch of road, but said Waka Kotahi NZTA was currently reviewing the speed limits in Te Tai Tokerau Northland and Tāmaki Makaurau north Auckland.
"Waka Kotahi NZTA is now working through all steps and requirements set out in the legal speed review process, which would include further conversations with local communities," Mutton said.
Pushback on proposed speed reduction along Northland state highway network
Further to the statement regarding the Road to Zero campaign, speed is due to be dropped from 100km/h to 80km/h across the entire Northland state highway network in an attempt to reduce road fatalities.
The proposed change represents the biggest main road speed change in the region for almost 40 years.
Waka Kotahi NZTA is looking to permanently slash the speed limit across Northland's 880km of state highway, which may include Awanui Straight, as part of Road to Zero- a national safety campaign to reduce road accidents and deaths.
Northland Regional Transport Committee (RTC) member and Far North deputy mayor Ann Court said while she agreed with reducing the speed to 80km/h on some roads, applying a blanket approach was not the way forward.
"This campaign has not considered a cost-benefit, social impact analysis for Northland, so I'm particularly concerned about the ongoing impact on levels of service to the network, as well as loss of productivity," Court said.
"In my personal opinion, I believe this change may also lead to adverse outcomes, such as more risky behaviour due to driver frustration.
"Fatigue is also the biggest contributor to road crashes, so we're essentially asking people to be on the road for longer."
Court said she believed this type of approach meant the Government could avoid having to spend money to improve roads.
She said a holistic approach to the issue was the best way to assess the situation and to find a solution to road fatalities while preserving productivity.
"This is a 'get-out-of-jail-free card to not spend money on the network, wrapped up in a campaign playing to hearts and minds through focusing only on-road fatalities," she said.
"I understand fixing roads is expensive, but what is the cost to the economy to reduce the speed to 80km? How much more gas emissions will we expel and what more will we spend on petrol driving for an extra 40 minutes?
"I'd be interested to know what the cost of all that was opposed to fixing the roads."
Canterbury University Professor of Geography and transport expert Simon Kingham specialises in traffic research, including driving, speed limits, transport and health.
Kingham is also the Chief Science Adviser for the Ministry of Transport but was not involved with this particular Waka Kotahi initiative.
According to Kingham, road death statistics in New Zealand were some of the worst in the world, with young people, particularly young Māori men, the highest figures represented overall.
He said he supported (for the most part) Waka Kotahi NZTA's decision to reduce speed and that it was in alignment with what other countries were doing around the world.
"In reality what Waka Kotahi NZTA is trying to do is save lives and statistics show speed is one of the biggest contributing factors to road deaths," Kingham said.
"While I understand it may be an inconvenience for people to slow down, research shows the extra time gained by driving faster is often not utilised more productively."
Kingham said while he understood the argument for fixing roads, he didn't agree it was the best solution to reducing the number of road fatalities each year.
"You can improve the roads with barriers, straightening, etc but it's really expensive," he said.
"The question is, why spend hundreds of millions repairing and maintaining roads or even building new ones, only to have vehicles drive faster?
"Obviously you need to repair basic things like potholes etc. but the same outcome of reducing road fatalities can be achieved just by slowing down."
National List MP Dr Shane Reti, based in Whangārei, has also weighed in on the debate, saying the Government needed to "come clean on its hidden agenda" to lower speed limits on state highways across Northland and the rest of the county.
"Labour cancelled the four lanes that we desperately needed and replaced them with sticks. Now they are covering up their lack of investment in Northland roads with a cheap and dirty blanket speed restriction," Reti said.
"Northland's rurality, long distances and low socioeconomic status mean the poor and vulnerable will bear the burden of this experiment."
The Northland Age asked Waka Kotahi NZTA how the decision to reduce speed had been assessed and whether other factors had been considered in the decision-making.
It did not answer the questions directly, but said road crashes and deaths had a number of flow-on effects for the community and economy: "2200 people were seriously injured and 325 lives lost on the roads last year-nearly a person a day," he said.
"The losses have a devastating impact on families and communities and for every person killed on our roads, around seven sustain serious injuries, many of which are life-long and debilitating.
"This also has a massive economic impact on New Zealand – with the social cost of road crashes on our economy estimated at over $5 billion annually."
Mutton said under Road to Zero, Waka Kotahi NZTA would also be improving the safety of existing roads, including new roundabouts, median barriers, side barriers, widened centrelines and rumble strips.
Factbox:
The Northland high-risk state highway speed limit cuts are proposed as part of a Waka Kotahi Northland - north-west Auckland project covering:
• SH1 from Pukenui to Kaitāia and Kawakawa to Whangārei then south to Northland's boundary with Auckland - and from there the boundary south through to Warkworth.
• SH10 Pākaraka tō Taipā.
• SH11 Kawakawa to Paihia.
• SH12 from Kaikohe west then south to Brynderwyn.
• SH14 Whangārei to Dargaville as well as SH15 through Mangakahia between SH1 near Kaikohe and Otaika.
• Outside Tai Tokerau SH16 - the major alternate route into and out of Northland - between Wellsford to Waimauku near Helensville.
• Waka Kotahi reduced the speed SH1 limit between Kawakawa and Moerewa from 100km/h to 80km/h last August.
