Poor roading ‘poses main risk’ to motorists
Motorists caught creeping a few kilometres over the speed limit can expect to be hit in the back pocket this summer.
Heavy holiday traffic traditionally heralds a renewed police focus on speed but one road safety campaigner says building safer roads – not ticketing ‘‘ordinary drivers’’ – should be the Government’s priority.
And New Zealand Transport Agency data shows lifting speed limits on two stretches of state highway hasn’t led to an increase in crash rates.
The speed limit along a stretch of the Cambridge section of the Waikato Expressway and the Tauranga Eastern Link Toll Road was increased to 110kmh in December last year.
Provisional data obtained under the Official Information Act shows there was one serious injury and one minor injury on the 110kmh stretch of the Cambridge section between December 2017 and August 2018.
That compares to one serious injury and two minor injuries during the corresponding period a year earlier.
There were two minor injuries along the 110kmh section of the Tauranga Eastern Link Toll Road in the nine months after the new speed limit was introduced, compared to one minor injury during the same period a year earlier.
NZTA says conclusions can’t be drawn from the crash statistics, citing the short period of time that’s elapsed and the small sections of road in question.
But road safety campaigner Clive Matthew-Wilson said higher speed limits on these two roads was clearly appropriate given it hadn’t significantly affected road safety.
‘‘There is nothing magical about these roads,’’ MatthewWilson said. ‘‘They’re basically ordinary highways with fences to stop cars leaving the road and median barriers to stop vehicles colliding head-on.’’
The best ways to reduce the road toll was to upgrade roads and target unsafe drivers, he said.
‘‘As a matter of fact, about 85 per cent of the road toll occurs below, not above, the speed limit.
‘‘Almost all these high-speed accidents are caused by yobbos, blotto drivers or outlaw motorcyclists.
‘‘The police have issued millions of speeding tickets to ordinary drivers who’ve drifted a few Ks over the speed limit. Yet the road toll goes up, not down.’’
‘‘There’s nothing magical about these roads.’’ Road safety campaigner Clive MatthewWilson