Lack of patience adds to problem
The former officer in charge of Taranaki’s highway patrol says impatient motorists are compounding the problems along a deadly stretch of highway.
Stephen Richardson has attended his share of fatal crashes on the 12 kilometres of State Highway 3 between New Plymouth and Waitara.
‘‘They’re best described as horrific, ‘cause due to the high speed the vehicles were travelling the injuries were serious and it did result in fatalities,’’ he said.
Richardson once described the stretch of highway as a ‘‘killing field".
‘‘It was quite a wellknown piece of highway, mostly for the fact that back in its time it had the highest death rate per kilometre of highway and it was known as the death highway.
‘‘It has too many intersections and each intersection is an opportunity for tragedy.’’
Richardson, who spent 27 years in the police, was involved in the process to reduce the speed limit along the highway to 80kmh and believes that had helped reduce the ferocity of crashes.
‘‘So that when people make mistakes, the result of their mistakes wasn’t going to be as horrendous.
‘‘Has it saved lives? I hope it has. Is it going to continue to save lives? I think that’s up to the drivers.’’
He acknowledged the road needed an upgrade to cope with the increased volumes of traffic but said until the work was carried out motorists needed to play their part.
‘‘Drivers are making errors and unfortunately it comes down to the driver making mistakes and not
realising the impact of their mistakes. They see a gap and perhaps they travel into that gap when they shouldn’t. That’s the problem they think that they’re OK to do it and they are really pushing their luck and when they get it wrong the result of that is carnage.’’
Richardson, who now works in management for a large trucking company, said some drivers didn’t show enough patience or courtesy for other road users. ‘‘My message to everyone is just be patient, take your time and be sure it’s safe before entering an intersection.’’
However, he was disappointed the upgrade, which he believed should include a multi-lane highway and flowing roundabouts, would not be completed by 2020, and concerns remained about the safety at intersections including Raleigh St, which was ranked the country’s 64th most dangerous.
He hoped funding wouldn’t derail the long-overdue project. ‘‘Cost should never be counted as a factor when it comes to people’s lives. ‘‘I personally believe a person’s life is more valuable than a dollar to fix a piece of road.’’