Blitz on 'killer highway' carnage

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

Highway patrol police will be out in force this month on a 35km stretch of road north of Tauranga which has claimed 24 lives in two years.

State Highway 2 from Bethlehem to Katikati, which carries an average of 18,000 vehicles a day, will get special attention from Transit New Zealand as well as the police.

Transit New Zealand will highlight the risks of the route with distinctive new signs and extra road markings, and there will be a public education campaign to improve driver behaviour.

Since four elderly Auckland women died when their car was crushed by a logging truck in May 1999, residents have been pressing for action.

They worry constantly that the "horror highway" will continue to clock up more victims. But authorities point out that the roadway itself is not to blame for the carnage.

"It is no good just saying, 'killer highway'," says Tauranga's strategic traffic unit head, Senior Sergeant Colin Gyde.

"We have to raise public awareness that this stretch of road is extremely unforgiving."

Some shocking multiple fatalities had increased the statistics dramatically to equal one death a month.

But extensive investigations had shown that the highway was not the main cause of the accidents.

Road width, alignment and seal were not defective. Nor was there any common link such as speed or alcohol.

"Yet we know the impacts that occur on that highway are incredibly severe."

Investigators had not been able to hone in on any one reason, although there were peripheral things. Geographically, there were hills and cuttings in parts of the terrain which provided no safe points for vehicles to go off the road when faced with a collision.

The Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty road safety coordinator, Lynnette Hynds, said she would be concentrating throughout this month on re-educating drivers on basic road rules, such as keeping left, obeying speed limits, not passing on yellow lines and how to use turning bays.

The particular stretch of highway was not unique but people were not driving to the conditions, she said. "It is a drivingbehaviour problem."

Many motorists had not adapted over recent years to the heavy traffic volume - a symptom of the rapid growth of the Western Bay of Plenty area.

"It is a very busy road and there is no room for error."

Hand in hand with keeping left was the need to search and plan ahead, identifying possible dangers such as intersections.

A spokesman for Opus International, consultants to Transit New Zealand, said most of the accidents came down to driver error.

"You are never going to stop the drunk driver who thinks he's invincible."

However, ways of making the road safer were constantly under review.

Minor work including intersection improvement and upgraded signs and markings had been done, but major works such as more passing lanes and realigning the 2.5km Apata curves, had to take their place for national funding.

The month-long "hit" combining awareness, impact and enforcement would emphasise that "this is a piece of highway you need to respect".

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