KEY POINTS:
Alarming crash rates on some of Auckland's widest and flattest streets have earned Pt England a road-safety trial.
A traffic research group has chosen the area for the three-year trial after finding crash rates through the Tamaki suburbs were more than twice those of Auckland City's seven other isthmus wards.
In the six years to December, 445 crashes were reported in the Tamaki ward, of which 338 were caused by drivers losing control.
That was double the 221 crashes reported from the next most dangerous ward, Maungakiekie.
Pedestrians are at particular risk in Tamaki, where 68 were hit by vehicles over the six years, a figure almost three times higher than in most other parts of Auckland.
Those statistics have prompted the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology to grant $450,000 to a Manukau-based organisation called Transport Engineering Research NZ for a trial with Auckland City Council of ways to reduce speeds by altering visual perceptions of motorists in residential streets.
The council will add up to $400,000 for physical changes to a block of streets bounded by Pt England Rd, Apirana Ave, Tripoli Rd, Tangaroa St and Riverside Ave.
A section of nearby Glen Innes will be left as a "control" zone.
Council road safety manager Karen Hay said the preference was for more effective and less expensive alternatives to traditional speed humps, which cost up to $15,000 each and were disliked by motorists and neighbours.
Safety features to be determined in consultation with community groups and schools could include changes to the width of streets, cycle lanes, on-street parking or street furniture to show motorists the presence of pedestrians and other road users.
Ms Hay said they would serve as "built-in instructions" to encourage safe driving intuitively.
The project has won approval from the council's transport committee, but not without debate in which Auckland Citizens and Ratepayers Now member Doug Armstrong criticised a lack of financial information and a working title of "self-explaining roads for sustainable communities".
"What the hell are they talking about - growing veges along the verges so people can get a feed to get a bit of sustainability?"
Transport general manager Dr Stephen Rainbow said the title was meant to reflect an issue of growing international concern - a need to make streets easier for drivers to interpret.
