Thieves and vandals have shut down the use of high-tech road safety signs on one of New Zealand's most deadly highways.
The weather-activated speed signs line a 12km stretch of State Highway 29 in the Kaimai Range.
The signs were installed in November 2015 and were part of a two-year trial which had just gone into a data analysis phase. However, over the past seven days, 26 batteries in the signs have been stolen. The batteries weigh 75kg while battery storage cabinets, cameras and other power sources for the signs were destroyed or damaged.
The damage is estimated to cost tens of thousands of dollars.
New Zealand Transport Agency senior project manager Angela Crean said the agency was very disappointed, "especially because they were put in place to reduce the number of people being killed or seriously injured on the Kaimai Range".