Safety fears on busy new highway
Firefighters are dreading the approaching winter as increased traffic along the alternative State Highway 1 route continues to pile pressure on emergency services.
Murchison Fire Brigade, made up of volunteers, received more than 40 emergency call-outs in four months since the November 14 earthquakes closed the coastal highway, forcing motorists to detour through the town.
The figures are just short of the 55 call-outs the brigade would usually attend in an entire year. Murchison Volunteer Fire Brigade chief Paul Wilkins said almost all the incidents the bridge had responded to were directly related to road crashes.
Wilkins believes emergency calls will double by the end of the year. He said the biggest concern was crashes over winter as driving conditions deteriorated, particularly early in the morning and late at night.
He said Murchison volunteers tended to see more crashes related to icy roads over winter periods. However, the Tasman Road police unit maintain the majority of crashes occur over the summer.
The unit is looking at plans to keep the road network open over winter as inevitable closures lay ahead for the Lewis Pass section of the alternative route to Christchurch.
Before the earthquake, about 1500 vehicles passed through Springs Junction each day and an average of 200 of them were trucks. Now there are at least four times that number of vehicles.
For this reason, more police and ambulance staff were allocated to the region following the quakes. Two police officers were assigned to Murchison to ensure traffic officers maintained high visibility on the roads.
The increase in emergency calls has led Wilkins to plead for more volunteers. He said extra numbers would ease the rising pressure on current members.
‘‘It’s pretty hard going. It’s increased our workload quite a bit,’’ he said.
In February a motorcyclist was critically injured when he collided with a fence and later died at the scene.
Wilkins said the fatality was the only one their crew had attended so far this year.
He said most calls had been to minor crashes, possibly linked to speed, fatigue and not driving to conditions. ‘‘My opinion is that people need to learn to slow down a bit and be patient.’’
A few extra crew members could mean the difference between Murchison attending an emergency call or being forced to pass the buck to an outlying brigade, delaying the response time when every minute was crucial, Wilkins said.
‘‘Some of our guys are farmers and they can’t get away because they’re milking their cows and sometimes I’m not always there ... I know I’m finding it very hard and I know some of the other guys are too. ‘‘We’ve got a very big area to look after.’’
Murchison Volunteer Fire Brigade has two fire trucks and 14 active volunteers, according to Wilkins. He said three volunteers had come forward this year but they needed more.
Fire trucks must travel with a minimum of four occupants, but five is preferable and makes responding to call-outs simpler and faster. Volunteer Fire Brigades on the South Island are usually part of a first response team when emergencies are activated.
Other services such as St John Ambulance, police and rescue services are also dispatched while some services stood down depending on the incident.
Wilkins said increased police presence had most likely stopped many more crashes from happening and applauded their efforts. He said it was now up to the motorists to take care.Wairau Valley Volunteer Fire Brigade senior station officer Iain Topp said while traffic was now steady, they had attended fewer crashes than they had earlier anticipated.
‘‘We’ve got away, fingerscrossed, so far pretty lightly. We’ve had more accidents, we took on an extra four staff. We’ve been lucky.’’