Speed limit cut for safety

Motorists are about to be restricted to an 80km/h speed limit on the tricky section of State Highway 1 over the Brynderwyn Hills in Northland.

The Transport Agency, in co-operation with the police, will lower the limit from 100km/h from Thursday over a 5.9km section.

Police patrols will enforce the limit from the Piroa Stream Bridge, next to the large quarry on the Auckland side of the Brynderwyns, to a point 1.3km south of Waipu Gorge Rd on the Whangarei side.

Agency northern highways manager Tommy Parker says the lower limit is needed to improve safety on a challenging stretch of road with narrow lanes, tight corners and limited visibility.

"It is a section of highway that demands full driver attention - many people have been caught out and crossed the centre line or left the road with disastrous results."

Mr Parker said there had been 79 crashes on the hills in the past five years, three of them fatal.

He noted a reduction in crashes since an 80km/h limit was introduced two and a half years ago on another notorious Northland section of SH1, the Dome Valley between Wellsford and Warkworth.

Twenty-three crashes, including three deaths, had occurred there since the limit was lowered from 100km/h in December 2007, compared with 36 crashes and seven deaths in the three years before.

Northland road policing manager Inspector Clifford Paxton said that in many of the crashes his patrols were called to on the Brynderwyns, motorists had not necessarily exceeded the 100km/h limit but had nevertheless been driving too fast for the conditions.

In other motoring news, motorcyclists are furious the Transport Agency intends ending free rides and charging them $2 to use the Northern Gateway toll road on SH1 between Orewa and Puhoi from June 1.

Although the agency insists it is only fair to charge them the same toll as car owners, the Biker Rights Organisation of New Zealand says motorcycles cause far less wear and tear on roads.

"Here we have one Government department [the Transport Agency] saying motorcyclists should be treated just the same as cars, and another Government department - ACC - saying motorcycles are different to cars and should be treated differently," said Biker Rights Auckland president Les Mason.

He was referring to higher proposed increases in accident compensation levies for motorcyclists, who he said plan a large protest rally in central Auckland on June 27.

Mr Mason predicted that most recreational motorcyclists would opt for the alternative free coastal route between Orewa and Puhoi, but said the agency could face problems collecting arrears from commuters who might keep riding on the toll road while refusing to pay up.

The agency says it collects tolls to repay a 35-year loan of $159 million towards construction of the $356 million road, rather than to cover maintenance costs, and motorcyclists enjoy the same time savings as car drivers.

Mr Mason denied that, saying the coastal route was faster for motorcycles and savings offered by the toll road were cancelled out by the time it took to pay, including removing protective gloves and helmets at collection stations.