"To be truthful, I didn't know about other crashes until I was contacted by people who have raised concerns in the past," Mr Flavell said.
"This is a major highway, it's been opened up [in recent years] and people travel regularly between Tauranga and Rotorua.
"I don't know if it can be put down to anything in particular and I don't know the particular circumstances of the crashes."
He said he had been using that road "for years" and had never personally had any cause for concern but now that other residents were raising concerns he wanted to know if anything could be done.
He highlighted the area around Leonard Rd in particular.
"There's a big corner there and the sheer speed of people going from Rotorua to Tauranga is a concern. You have got to be very careful there."
Ngongotaha resident Derek Foster, who lives near State Highway 36 and frequently used the road, said speed was a factor.
"There's nothing wrong with the road, it's the people who use it," he said.
"They're driving too fast for the conditions or they're not paying attention properly."
Mr Foster said he believed people needed to be more vigilant when driving on that stretch of road.
Mrs Jones said recent crashes, aside from last week's fatal, could be put down to driver error, including speed and following too closely.
"People go too fast and don't pay attention. If we reduce the speed the severity of the crash is reduced," Mrs Jones said.
"One crash recently was from following too closely and not being able to stop in time."
