Mayors want NZTA to fix ‘killing field’ roads

Mayors are pleading for road improvements after two fatal crashes in one day on State Highway 1.

Two people died on Tuesday in two separate crashes, the first at O¯ hau, south of Levin, when a car and a ute collided about 4.50pm.

The second person died in Manakau when a car and truck collided just hours later, at 7.10pm.

In a joint statement yesterday, Horowhenua mayor Michael Feyen and Ka¯ piti Coast mayor K Gurunathan said the high number of serious motor vehicle crashes in less than two weeks was ‘‘totally unacceptable’’.

Both mayors demanded an effective and immediate response from NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) before the heavy holiday traffic heads north.

In their statement they said the two fatalities occurred on sections of highway that NZTA would claim have had safety improvements carried out in the recent past – at O¯ hau and the Waikawa Beach turnoff on the Manakau straight. Local people believed the Waikawa turnoff was now more dangerous.

The mayors were seeking an urgent meeting with NZTA to find a way to make changes before there were more fatalities.

‘‘These recent tragic accidents continue the observation of former coroner Philip Comber who noted that, over the past 25 years, the roads had become ‘a killing field marked like a battlefield with white crosses’,’’ Gurunathan said. ‘‘I want to appeal directly to Transport Minister Phil Twyford to step in as this systemic killing field scenario is contrary to his government’s stated GPS (Government Policy Statement) priority on safety.’’

The mayors were seeking an urgent meeting with NZTA