'Death road' needs fixing now, AA says

The Automobile Association says there needs to be urgent improvements made to a notorious stretch of highway at Mangatawhiri, after a van and car crashed head-on and three people were taken to hospital yesterday.

Two of the victims had serious injuries.

The vehicles collided at 7.10am on State Highway 2, causing the road to be closed while the police serious crash unit carried out investigations.

Traffic was diverted through Koheroa Rd until the road was reopened in the afternoon.

The strip of highway between Mangatawhiri and Maramarua has claimed at least 35 lives in five years and has a crash toll 40 per cent higher than the national average for highways of its type.

It has earned the names "horror highway" and "death road".

Automobile Association spokesman George Fairbairn said yesterday that the stretch of road needed to be improved urgently but that the public had to realise that the work was going to take time to complete.

"Until that time, people have to drive with care," Mr Fairbairn said.

There has been talk of reducing the speed limit in the area to 80km/h.

Transit has also announced it would seek $43 million from the state funding agency Land Transport New Zealand for a 7.2km bypass of Mangatawhiri village. It hopes to start work late this year and finish by 2008.

- STAFF REPORTER, NZPA