Signs upgraded after crash
Poor signage on a rural road that serves as a substitute state highway could have contributed to a fatal crash, a coroner says.
The quality of the signage was raised by a crash analyst in the wake of the death of 82-year-old Barrett Arthur Pene.
In findings released to Stuff last month, coroner Peter Ryan said he was unable to say exactly what led to Pene’s death in October 2018.
He died when the Toyota he was driving went across the centre line of Saddle Rd, near Woodville, while going around a lefthand bend.
Saddle Rd went in 2017 from being a steep, windy rural road to a steep, windy replacement for State Highway 3 through the Manawatu¯ Gorge, after landslips closed the gorge road. Construction of a replacement for the gorge is scheduled to start in the 2020/21 summer months.
Pene had caught the bus from Palmerston North to Hawke’s Bay to pick up the Toyota, which he had been given as part of a land deal, two days before his death.
The woman driving the car Pene crashed into said she hit the brakes as soon as she saw Pene’s vehicle crossing the centre line. Skid marks showed Pene had hit the brakes and started steering immediately before the crash.
Pene was not well, having had two recent bouts of chemotherapy for cancer. A post-mortem found he had heart issues , but the corner found it was most likely Pene was alive when the crash happened.
A crash analyst noted there was only one speed sign, telling drivers to slow to 45kmh, before the corner in the direction Pene was travelling. But that sign was located in a dip well back from the corner.
Furthermore, there were yellow and orange-coloured heavy road maintenance vehicles parked just past the sign, and the surrounding area had various shrubs and trees. The environment may have made it difficult to see the sign, the analyst found.
The coroner said he could not be certain poor signage played a part, but decided it was important enough to raise with NZ Transport Agency. The agency improved the signage in the wake of the crash, putting in more signs – something the coroner said was a ‘‘significant improvement’’.