Holiday drivers face restrictions

Summer holiday-makers face driving restrictions on two stretches of the notorious State Highway 2 southeast of Auckland - the extended loss of a passing lane and a reduced speed limit.

Transit New Zealand has decided to keep the passing lane closed on a rise just west of Maramarua while it consults residents on ways to safeguard the site, where two people have been killed in almost identical rear-end crashes within 15 months.

The agency is also lowering the speed limit to 80km/h on an 8km stretch of SH2 through and on the approaches to the spectacular but dangerously winding Karangahake Gorge between Paeroa and Waihi, after six fatal crashes in five years, including three last year.

It is already replacing 100km/h signs and is today launching with police and other agencies a safety campaign aimed at young drivers and local people, using a combination of education, tougher enforcement and engineering improvements such as rumble edge and centre lines.

The road will be the first "speed zoning" site in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions, and police are vowing to enforce the lower limit with vigour as Land Transport New Zealand prepares school presentations and pamphlets for delivery to nearby homes and businesses.

Waikato road policing manager Inspector Leo Tooman said the road had claimed too many lives and his officers would also go hard against drivers failing to keep left.

"We believe the 80km/h speed limit will make motorists realise that this piece of road is difficult and should be treated with care," he said.

He called on local drivers to respect the road and resist becoming over-confident.

Land Transport spokeswoman Rosalie Orr said the narrow and winding nature of the road and scenic attractions along the way sometimes proved a deadly combination.

Transit is preparing to improve signs and markings along the road, and attach rumble strips to its edges and centrelines.

The agency is also extending its temporary closure of the passing lane near Maramarua while it consults residents and the Waikato District Council about options for safeguarding a turning bay where vehicles have been struck waiting to turn off SH2.

The bay is at the start of the eastbound passing lane, and two truck drivers have been killed after hitting vehicles waiting to turn right into Kopuku Rd, including one last month.

Residents have asked Transit all year to improve signs on the approach to the lanes to give motorists better warning of the turning bay.

But the agency does not believe that will be enough to safeguard the site and is studying remedies, including widening the highway at the turning bay, closing Kopuku Rd or closing the passing lane permanently.

Waikato regional manager Chris Allen said he feared closing the lane would not stop some people from overtaking there, and closing Kopuku Rd would mean having to improve an alternative turn-off, to Coalfield Rd further east.

Kopuku Rd resident Lynette Pickard, whose horse truck was struck from behind in the latest fatal smash, said this could prove even more dangerous as visibility there was poorer.

Other residents fear the extended closure of the passing lane until a decision is reached early next year will aggravate impatient holidaying motorists and push them to take more risks.

But Transit has let a tender for $2.8 million for new passing lanes along both sides of a 1.5km stretch of SH2 along Heaven Straight, starting about 2.5km east of Maramarua.

Gorge crashes

* During the past five years six crashes in the Karangahake Gorge have been fatal.

* There have been 21 serious injuries and 33 minor injuries.

* The injury rate is double the national average.